Have you ever stopped to think of the origins of your breakfast? Not in the sense of where you bought the active ingredients, but how its name got in the lexicon. A cup of joe, a bowl of granola, sunnyside-up eggs, and even the word “breakfast” all have intriguing backstories..
In Romaine Wasn’t Built in a Day: The Delightful History of Food Language, author, medievalist, and linguist Judith Tschann spills the beans, sharing the etymologies of old and brand-new food words. The project underscored the truth that English is an international language that’s absorbed thousands of words– consisting of food words– from hundreds of languages around the world, consisting of Latin, Greek, Turkish, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Urdu.
Organized into chapters on breakfast, java break, lunch, happy hour, dinner, and nightcaps, this fascinating book checks out whatever from quotidian meals to distant comestibles. Every page feels like a journey of discovery– which we parsed here, after asking Tschann to share the origin stories of a few of the food words we see and utilize regularly.
Breakfast Foods.
When it pertains to the etymologies of common breakfast food words, some origin stories are rational, others are complicated, and numerous remain dirty..
Coffee.
Traced back to Latin, coffee in informal Italian ways “friar in the order,” while cappucio is the “hood” of the friar’s routine. “The transfer of implying from friar’s clothes to the name of a coffee made with frothy milk appears to depend upon the color of the habit,” says Tschann.
This could have occurred in numerous methods, with someone possibly stating that the beverage was reminiscent of a friar’s clothes. Word took a trip and the name stuck. “By that time, the word was just the name of the important things, no longer recollecting a friar in his practice. Except for word geeks– having a friar in the coffee contributes to their pleasure,” Tschann states.
Cup of Joe.
This name for a coffee was most likely derived from the 1930s U.S. military slang term, G.I. Joe.
Granola.
Your morning granola was when a trademarked name coined by W. K. Kellogg, the cereal magnate who founded his well-known business in 1906.
Cereal.
And that preferred breakfast food called cereal? It originates from Latin cereālis, for Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Both the goddess (who supported grain) and the word cereal go back to the Indo-European root ker-, implying “to grow.”.
Trademark Name and Beyond.
Coined words can become so popular, they transcend their brand and are used to indicate the generic item (like granola).
Jell-O.
Jell-O is another example that fits this mold. We now use the term to refer to all kinds of gelatin desserts. “When this occurs, the word might ultimately come to be spelled with a lowercase letter, similar to jello shots,” states Tschann.
Foods Named After People and Places.
Toponyms are food words originated from a location, while eponyms are named after a person..
Sandwich.
That sandwich you lovingly crafted for lunch is an eponym, thanks to the 18th-century Earl of Sandwich (yep!), who apparently piled meat in between two pieces of bread so he could better eat while maneuvering his cards at the poker table. While the sandwich concept dates back to middle ages times, the earl became its name..
The Reuben sandwich is also an eponym, perhaps referencing a grocer named Reuben Kulatofsky who, in the 1920s or 1930s, loaded rye bread with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing– interestingly, also while playing poker. Another story alludes to a “Reuben’s Special” sandwich made in 1914 at Arthur Reuben’s Deli in New York, which would likewise make it a toponym of sorts.
Darjeeling.
Time to talk tea: Darjeeling, named for the area in India where it grows, and bergamot, most likely called for the northern Italian province of Bergamo, are both toponyms, while Earl Grey, probably a nod to the 2nd Earl Grey of England, is an eponym..
Romaine.
The word romaine (from the middle ages French laitue romaine, or “Roman lettuce”), has a long lifeline and link to Rome. It has actually been grown in the Mediterranean considering that antiquity and in Rome given that classical times, if not in the past. It is thought to have actually made it’s Roman name after it made its method to France via popes from Rome.
Foods Named After Body Parts.
Yes, our anatomy is a rich source of food words.
Cabbage.
The popular cruciferous veggie, cabbage, takes its name from the Anglo-Norman kaboche, which indicates “head.”.
Ladyfingers.
Called “savoiardi” in Italy after the area they come from (so, a toponym!), these cookies are, obviously, light, little sponge cakes formed like digits– which is why we describe them as ladyfingers in English.
Pasta.
Several types of pasta, including orecchiette (” little ears”) and capellini (” fine hair”) riff on body parts, too, while others, like vermicelli (” little worms”) tickle the amusing bone; all somewhat resemble their names. “It’s one thing to discover a word’s etymology– in many cases its actual significance in another language– and quite another to represent it completely. The why and how of names are typically a matter of speculation,” says Tschann.
Open to Interpretation.
Tschann’s food word research study revealed “surprises and thrills galore”– plus, she found that there are periodically rival stories or beliefs about the origins of a word.
Barbecue.
According to Tschann, the word barbecue most likely stems from the Caribbean Arawakan word barbacoa, meaning “a wooden frame used for sleeping on, drying, smoking, or roasting food over a fire.”.
There’s likewise a popular theory that the word comes from the French barbe à queue, or “beard to tail,” which is suggestive of the method the animal is spitted for roasting on an open fire. “Like numerous fanciful etymologies based upon sound similarity, barbe à line is entertaining (unless one doesn’t wish to consider how a pig is spitted!)– but there’s no supporting evidence for it,” Tschann states.
Strozzapreti.
The origins of the name of the pasta strozzapreti ( from Italian, equating to “priest stranglers/chokers”) is also open up to analysis. One account for its name points to greedy 16th-century priests who ate a lot of the thick pasta they choked– a story that potentially progressed from opposition to the power of the clergy, explains Tschann.
” Part of the explanation for many entertaining food words should have to do with individuals’s love of language– of having fun with words, of chortling while comprising a food name to draw in attention and consumers, and of eaters accepting the word,” Tschann states.
