SC - "paella" originally means 'pan'

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> Yes, I saw that "paelle" and "paele" seem to be used to 
> denote a pan in
> the Enseignements, and that certainly is a possibility, but then where
> does that leave words like pilau and its variants, which 
> could have made
> it to Spain across North Africa from Persia? Presumably one 
> or the other
> is a coincidence, and then it wouldn't explain why every dish called
> paella is always based on rice (at least now, and as far as I know).
> Unless a paelle is a pan used to cook rice, named for the grain? This
> would be consistent with, say, a tripier (a clay pot with a narrow
> mouth, traditionally used for tripe).
> 
> Perhaps I'm oversimplifying.
> 
> Adamantius (confused now, my confusion not abated by my elation at
> seeing the O.E.D. and Larousse discredited) 

Look at the Latin.  Patina means plate or pan.  Patella is the diminutive of
patina.  From which Old French gets paella for frying pan or pot.  Catlan
presumably takes the term from Old French.

Since patella is a term for kneecap and kneecaps resemble paella pans, I get
the feeling we have some wordplay going on.

I'm no expert, but I would tend to discount derivation from the Arabic
because of the consonant termination of the Persian pilaw and the Turkish
pilav.

Bear