Pig in a poke while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick. This taught many scammed people the phrase "Caveat Emptor", or "buyer beware" as translated from Latin. In the past, it was common for small farmers to put a pig in a cloth sack to bring it to market for sale. A "poke" is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as "poque" and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding "-ette" or "-et" — hence "pocket" began life with the meaning "small bag". "Poke" is still in use in several English-speaking places, including
Latin syntax like the following, there is potential for confusion, since the "quīn" clause, though positive in Latin, is translated in English with a negative: In the following context, the words after "quīn" express not what actually happened but what very nearly happened: The pronoun "quī" 'who' or 'which', when followed by a subjunctive, can mean 'a person such as' (generic): It can also mean 'in order to' (purpose): Another meaning is 'in view of the fact that' (giving an explanation), as in the following example, said jokingly of a consul who was elected on the last day of the year: Another