[Sca-cooks] Lamb (was Re: lent, wine, indulgences, de Nola)

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

Dredging this one up again...

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:

> >  >From Huette von Ahrens:
> >
> >"All the AS words [sheep, cow, pig, deer] show
> >that the Saxons were the caretakers of the
> >animals.
> >
> >All the Norman words [mutton, beef, pork,
> >venison]
> >show that the Normans were the eaters of the
> >animals."
> >
> >Which is interesting considering that venison was not orignally just used to
> >refer to cooked deer, but wild game on four legs in general...
>
> Which shows that the Normans doing the hunting too.
>
> Ranvaig

Or merely that the Normans were doing the writing. History is written by
the victors, after all. I would argue that, rather than the theory of word
usage showing that the Normans were doing the eating, the word usage shows
that the Normans were writing the cookbooks. The first cookery manuscripts
are, after all, written in Norman French or are posited translations from
a French manuscript.

I refuse to believe that only the Normans did any hunting, and that only
the Normans ate meat during the MA. If that were true, then there wouldn't
be people with English surnames mentioned in the court records for
poaching. For instance.

Has anybody considered that the word usage might have something to do with
French being the language of the upper classes for so long?

Margaret