Κότα και κοτόπουλο

[Cifi]

Duolingo teaches το κοτόπουλο for chicken in the skill "Food", and η κότα in "Animals". Could be a straightforward thing, it would not be the only language that has different words for the living being and its meat, so I thought it would be like pork vs pig in English.

But then Duolingo uses both words in these examples

Δεν είμαι κοτόπουλο!

Είσαι κότα!

Are both words interchangeable in this expression? I could perhaps imagine using "you are a pig" in certain contexts, but "you are pork" doesn't seem to make sense.

And, just to reassure: the meaning of the Greek sentences is something along the lines of being a coward?

[Cifi]

And a follow up: to me κοτόπουλο seems related to Κότα and to πουλί. Is it actually based on these two words, something like a chickenbird?

[Phil682961]

And a follow up: to me κοτόπουλο seems related to Κότα and to πουλί. Is it actually based on these two words, something like a chickenbird?

As I understand it (but I'm not 100% sure), it sort of is, but not in a totally straightforward way.

Latin had a word 'pullus' meaning something like 'small creature'.

This has been borrowed into various languages to mean a bird (or a type of bird): Greek πουλί, Spanish 'pollo', French 'poule', English 'poultry'.

It was also borrowed into Greek for a slightly different purpose, making the suffix -όπουλος, which is familiar from many Greek surnames (Παπαδόπουλος etc). Generally it functions as a diminutive, so κοτόπουλο is more like "little hen" than "hen-bird".

On your original question, there was a good discussion on the original Duolingo forum. As I remember, for many Greeks κότα works like "hen" (so it's the animal) and κοτόπουλο works like "chicken" (it's the young animal, and it's also the meat). But κότα can also be used for the meat (especially in northern Greece, I think).

[Phil682961]

And, just to reassure: the meaning of the Greek sentences is something along the lines of being a coward?

The discussion on this seems to have been preserved by Google Cache for now.

κότα works better than κοτόπουλο to symbolise cowardice, according to this. (I wonder how many other languages have this metaphor about hens/chickens, like English and Greek do?)

(Edit: another cached thread on this )

[Cifi]

Thank you, [mention]Phil682961[/mention] The picture is getting clearer, though it's hard to memorise.

So, Δεν είναι κοτόπουλο! would be something a duck might say after someone addressed it as a chicken? Or alternatively (even harder to imagine) the meat on my plate would say it?

My first language, German, does not use chickens as a metaphor for cowardice. I found it hard to think of something, possibly "Angsthase" or "Hasenfuß" (the latter seems slightly old-fashioned to me), both with hares involved. And there is another one with frogs, but I've only heard it used with a negation: "Sei kein Frosch!"

[O.Zoe]

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η κότα: κατοικίδιο πτηνό που εκτρέφεται για τα αυγά και για το κρέας του· η όρνιθα
[domestic fowl raised for its eggs and meat]

το κοτόπουλο: 1. κότα ή κόκορας νεαρής ηλικίας [young hen or rooster], 2. το κρέας του κοτόπουλου [chicken meat]

So, it's basically what Phil said. Κότα is the animal and κοτόπουλο is either the young animal or the meat.

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It was also borrowed into Greek for a slightly different purpose, making the suffix -όπουλος, which is familiar from many Greek surnames (Παπαδόπουλος etc). Generally it functions as a diminutive, so κοτόπουλο is more like "little hen" than "hen-bird".

That's right. The suffix -όπουλο is used for young animals, eg. ο λύκος (wolf) - το λυκόπουλο (wolf cub. Also, boy scout). It doesn't work for all animals, though. It's also used for people with the meaning of either the young offspring of someone, e.g. ο βασιλιάς (king) - το βασιλόπουλο (the young son of the king) / η βασιλοπούλα (the young daughter of the king) or just a young person of such-and-such an attribute, e.g. το προσφυγόπουλο (the young male refugee) / η προσφυγοπούλα (the young female refugee). Note that it's either neuter or feminine gender. The masculine -όπουλος is used for male surnames (Παπαδόπουλος, Βοσκόπουλος etc.) The feminine equivalent of the surname ends in -οπούλου (Παπαδοπούλου, Βοσκοπούλου...).

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EDITED
"Είσαι κότα!" can have the meaning of "you're a coward!". "Είσαι κοτόπουλο" has only the literal meaning. It's just one of the infamous silly Duolingo sentences alongside "I'm a butterfly!", "The rabbit reads the newspaper" etc.

[Cifi]

Thanks again for your explanations, [mention]Phil682961[/mention] and [mention]O.Zoe[/mention].

So, I was on the right track that κοτόπουλο relates to πουλί somehow, but my interpretation was wrong.

And the suffix with surnames, this is not so much a diminutive, more like indicating origin, maybe like the Jackson, Robinson, ... in English?

[O.Zoe]

And the suffix with surnames, this is not so much a diminutive, more like indicating origin, maybe like the Jackson, Robinson, ... in English?

Βοσκόπουλος is supposed to be the son of the shepherd (βοσκός).
Παπαδόπουλος is the son of the priest (παπάς).
Αλεξόπουλος is the son of Αλέξης (male name).
Παναγιωτόπουλος is the son of Παναγιώτης (male name), and so on.