Sometimes etymology (tracing the development of words) involves a clear path from an ancient root word to a modern-day usage. Other times, it’s much harder to track down where names for things come from because much of linguistic history is oral and wasn’t preserved on paper over the centuries. This very difficulty has allowed theories and myths to perpetuate. Such is the case with the origin of the piggy bank. It might not seem consequential, but it’s an interesting study in how a linguistic myth spreads as fact.
The oft-repeated origin story goes like this: During medieval times, people stored their coins in jars made from an orange-colored clay called “pygg,” which at the time was used to make all manner of pottery. Whimsical potters then began making clay money jars in the shape of pigs, as a nod to the name of the clay. The practice caught on, “pygg” became “pig,” and soon pig-shaped containers were a common item, first known as “pig banks” and later “piggy banks.” The story sounds reasonable, but it’s likely no more than fiction.
According to the British etymologist Michael Quinion on his website “World Wide Words,” the story first appeared in a 1965 book called How Did It Begin? by Dr. Rudolph Brasch and was then repeated in the 1989 book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati. Neither author provides any sources for the claim, but readers seem to have taken it at face value, and the “pygg” origin story became commonplace — and now proliferates online.
But Quinion isn’t buying it: “The story is false in every particular,” he writes. “There is no record of a clay called ‘pygg,’ whether orange or any other colour. The term ‘pygg bank’ is not on record and ‘piggy bank’ is only a century old.” That last part is important to consider when trying to find the real origin story. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first written usage of “piggy bank” dates back to 1913 — a long time after medieval potters supposedly began making pig-shaped coin receptacles. But “pig” in relation to money boxes is much older, and it takes us to Scotland. In the 15th century, the Scots called their money banks “pirly pigs,” with “pig” being a general Scottish term for earthenware products such as pots, pitchers, jars, and crockery, and “pyrl” a Scots term for “thrust or poke,” as one might insert a coin into a money box. This may provide some background to the unsupported claims in the aforementioned books, but not enough to make the myth hold true.
Perhaps a more compelling explanation for piggy banks can be found in Germanic cultural traditions. One of the oldest known piggy banks in Europe, dating from the 13th century, was found in what is now Thuringia, a state in east-central Germany. The Germanic people considered pigs to be symbols of fertility and prosperity, and money boxes shaped like pigs would have made sense. The Sparschwein — literally “savings pig” — is still a popular tradition in Germany. Centuries ago, pig-shaped banks may have spread from Germany to wider Europe, and it’s possible that German immigrants later introduced piggy banks to the United States.
Going even further back — and further afield — we also find piggy banks on the island of Java in the 12th century. Known as cèlèngan, these earthenware piggy banks were not uncommon in the Malay world during the Majapahit period — and they look surprisingly similar to the piggy banks we know today. It’s not impossible that someone brought these piggy banks to Europe, inspiring a wider trend — but we’ll likely never have concrete proof of that.
One thing we do know with certainty: There is no such thing as clay called “pygg,” and it did not inspire the name of the piggy bank.
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
