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Paper short abstract

The paper explores human evaluations of pigs and the values attached to them in Slovenian proverbs. It identifies two dimensions: the pig as a living animal in daily life and as a symbolic figure of human character, reflecting the broader human relationship with nature.

Paper long abstract

This paper investigates human evaluations of the pig as reflected in Slovenian traditional proverbs. It is framed by the conceptual distinction between value as the qualitative pole and worth as the quantitative pole of social value processes (cf. Graeber 2001). Methodologically, the study combines two approaches: a critical examination of ethnological and historical sources on pig farming and slaughter practices, and a semantic analysis of materials from the largest Slovenian digital proverb collection.

The findings indicate that proverbs articulate a wide range of attitudes toward the pig, from highly positive associations with prosperity, abundance, and well-being to negative associations with dirt, gluttony, and moral corruption. On a symbolic level, the pig remains a bearer of happiness and economic security as long as it is seen in its role as livestock. Yet when projected onto human behavior, the same animal comes to embody impurity, greed, and excess. While these results already suggest a deeply ambivalent picture, further ethnographically supported research is added to fully uncover the dynamics at play. Thus, a more precise understanding of this ambivalence represents a central aim of our research.

By situating these meanings within gradual, long-term transformations of value systems in Slovenian linguistic and cultural contexts, the paper shows two intertwined dimensions of the pig in proverbial tradition: as a live animal tied to everyday experience, livelihood, and emotion, and as a symbolic figure through which moral traits and broader reflections on humanity’s relationship with nature are expressed.