# They're called Guinea Pigs... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 12, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115 "2001-10-12T19:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115/1 "2001-10-12T19:38:06Z")
because that’s how much they used to cost. At least that’s my understanding. -Ed [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011012.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011012.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115/2 "2001-10-13T00:23:15Z")
Guinea-pigs were called guinea-pigs several years before the coin was first minted in 1663. Besides, that would be a darned expensive guinea-pig. In the days before rampant inflation, a guinea was an awful lot of money, something like $50 in today’s U.S. currency. ---
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115/3 "2001-10-13T01:31:57Z")
Not that I’m particularly married to this theory, but: a) Can you point to a pre-1663 document that uses the name guinea pig? If so, end of theory. If not? and b) While $50 may seem pricey in today’s guinea pig market, isn’t it possible that, back in the day, these critters, being indigenous to the New World, were considered exotic? Is it so absurd to think that an animal which could only be obtained by traveling halfway around the world might fetch such a price when you finally got it home? ---
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115/4 "2001-10-13T02:02:28Z")
Not that I’m particularly married to this theory, but: a) Can you point to a pre-1663 document that uses the name guinea pig? If so, end of theory. If not? and b) While $50 may seem pricey in today’s guinea pig market, isn’t it possible that, back in the day, these critters, being indigenous to the New World, were considered exotic? Is it so absurd to think that an animal which could only be obtained by traveling halfway around the world might fetch such a price when you finally got it home? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-called-guinea-pigs/87115/5 "2001-10-13T03:00:32Z")
Merriam-Webster gives 1664 as the date for the term “guinea pig”, by which time the critters had already long since made their European entrance. Queen Elizabeth reportedly had one, 75 or so years earlier, but then, she had an entire menagerie in the Tower of London, so nothing surprises me. [http://cavyhistory.tripod.com/](http://cavyhistory.tripod.com/) > [@](#): > > After the Spanish entrada into the New World, the guinea pig soon found its way to the European continent, where it immediately became popular as a household pet. Queen Elizabeth I herself owned a pet cavy, which may have contributed to its popularity. Webster’s Deluxe Unabridged (oof) doesn’t give a date, but notes that they were probably brought by ships “plying between England, Guinea, and South America”. But here’s another possible explanation. [http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/zooary/zoo/birds\_mammals/guinea\_pig.html](http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/zooary/zoo/birds_mammals/guinea_pig.html) > [@](#): > > The origin of the term guinea pig is an unsolved etymological problem. Some authorities believe the name may come from Guineamen, who were in the slavetrade and may have been the first to bring the animals from South Americato England. Others believe guinea is a corruption of the word coney, because guinea pigs were called pig coneys in 1607. Here’s what a “cony” is–a pika. [http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/lagomorphs/Pikaprintout.shtml](http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/lagomorphs/Pikaprintout.shtml) > [@](#): > > The pikas is a small mammal that is also known as the cony and the “rock rabbit” (but they aren’t really rabbits). Pikas are lagomorphs, closely related to rabbits and hares, but they are smaller and much noisier; they bark and bleat. Pikas live in cold, dry areas (high-altitude mountain slopes, deserts and grasslands) in western North America, southeastern Europe, and parts of Asia. It does look a lot like a guinea pig. P.S. You can print this out and color it at home! 😃 Purchasing power of 17th century money. Math. Wah! :eek: [http://www.portsdown.demon.co.uk/coin.htm](http://www.portsdown.demon.co.uk/coin.htm) > [@](#): > > 1625 Southampton 1½ Lbs Bread 1d > 1642 Edinburgh ¾ Lb Wheat Loaf 12d > 1642 Edinburgh 1 Lb Sour Bread 12d > 1642 Edinburgh 1¼ Lbs Rye Loaf 12d > 1642 Aberdeen . Loaf of Bread 12d > 1643 Southampton 1 Lb Wheat Bread ¾d > 1677 Portsmouth 1½ Lbs Wheaten Bread 2d > 1677 Portsmouth 1 Lb Household Bread 1d > 1677 Portsmouth 1 Lb White Bread 2d A guinea was worth 21 shillings, and a shilling was worth 12 pence. [http://www.kipar.org/history\_coins.html](http://www.kipar.org/history_coins.html) So if the price for a gen-yoo-wine South American cavy was a guinea, in say Portsmouth, which was a port facility, and where one would expect the price on incoming novelties to be the lowest, that would have been the equivalent of 252 loaves of bread. Yes? 12 pence in a shilling, 21 shillings in a guinea, bread at a penny a loaf. So today you can get a decent loaf of bread for $1.50, which would make your nifty South American novelty, just off the boat, worth $378, or about the price of a 25" color TV with a budget VCR. Which seems pretty steep, I’ll admit, but then again, you can’t buy male and female 25" color TVs, and in six months be in business for yourself selling cute little baby color TVs. …and market forces, free enterprise, and cavy breeding capabilities being what they are, I wouldn’t have expected the “guinea a head” price to last very long, even a hundred years before they had an actual coin called a “guinea”. So I think the “cony pig” explanation makes sense, as does the “Guineamen” explanation.