[Sca-cooks] New compost recipe (long)

[Laura C. Minnick]

Gorgeous Muiredach wrote:

> I just looked in "Larousse de la langue francaise, LEXIS", the 1985
> edition.  Note the quick translation is from me...  It says:
>
> Compost:  [English word, from ancient french Compost, from the latin
> compositus].  Mixture of dirt, organic garbage and lie, which transform
> itself little by little into dirt.
>
> Compote:  [from Latin composita, from componere, to put together]  Fruits,
> whole or cut in parts, cooked with sugar.
>
> >They are pretty obviously the same word. The fact that American
> >gardeners are unaware of the etymology really changes nothing.
>
> Here again, I must argue :-)  They are NOT the same word.  They have the
> same *origin*, but usage has changed them.  *today*, compost and compote
> are two different things.  The word's origin, as you rightly point out, is
> the same.  But the meaning has veered off quite a bit.
>
> Of course, I'm just a cook, not a linguist, soooo, I may just be full of
> compost to be ;-)

Yes, Gorgeous, the words are different now. But they weren't then- which
is the whole point, isn't it? I really don't care what a cookbook calls
a dish now- but understanding what it was called then does matter- it
gives me all sorts of clues as to where the dish came from and what it
was thought of. We aren't talking about modern French or what an
American gardener or French gardener or Venusian gardener. We are
talking about a gardener or cook in 1380 or so- what does _he_ think the
word means?

GO take a nap, Gorgeous. You're cranky today.

Auntie 'Lainie
-still trying to save the world from leftovers *urp!*