[Sca-cooks] Tur-duc-kin

[Terry Decker]

A pie is a filled pastry.  It is also a magpie.

As a filled pastry, there is a question as to whether or not the word
derives from the Middle Latin, "pica" or "pia."  The earliest written
appearance of "pie" in English is from 1190 while "pica" can only be dated
to 1310 and "pia" to 1230.  It is suggested that the Middle Latin "pica"
derives from the earlier Latin "pica" (magpie) because the miscellany of
ingredients resembles the miscellany of things gathered by a magpie.

The term "pie" could be relating the miscellany of birds  to the miscellany
of a magpie or it may be that an earlier version was cased in dough.  Or it
might be for a reason not yet considered.  Take your pick.

Bear


>My father-in-law has a period, or slightly OOP, recipe that begins, I
>believe, with a lark and has each bird stuffed inside a progressively
larger
>bird until it quits at swan.  They did call it "Great Pie", which is
>interesting as I can find no trace of pastry.  Does anybody know what the
>word "pie" originally meant?
>
>Sian