[Sca-cooks] Nef revisited

[Jeff Gedney]

>This list has in the past occasionally discussed the origin
>and meaning of the word 'nef'.
>
>
>I was looking through Larousse Gastronomique (the 1961 English
>translation) and tripped across the word 'nef' on page 95.
>
>It's out of period, referring to the luncheon meals of Louis XIV,
>but is still interesting.
>
>Here's the quote:
>
>"Then followed a gentleman-in-waiting, the general controller
>of the household, and other gentlemen of less exalted rank,
>preceding the clerks of the kitchen carrying plates, the _nef_,
>or a basket in which knives, spoons, forks, toothpicks, salt,
>ginger, pepper, saffron and all the oriental spices were kept."
>
>There's another mention on the next page:
>
>"While one of the ushers went to announce to the king the arrival
>of his meal, the Lord Steward bowed to the _nef_ (the cutlery
>basket) which had been placed on the table, then took the napkins
>out of it which a gentleman-in-waiting received between two gold
>plates."
>
>There's a further mention on page 97 in connection with Louis XV.
>


Nef is an old term for a type of boat, originally referring a largish sort of Knarr or "Halfskip" (which was a double ended sort of canoe shape, about 2.5 to 3 times as long as wide, and used by Northern European travellers and traders for exploration adn cargo).  

"Nef" as a term seems to have been used mostly in the French contexts, so it is quite likely that this usage originally referred in some way to the shape of the basket. 
It was probably a pointed oval or boat shape, deep and wide,  narrowing at the ends. 

There is also an eccelsiastical boat shaped incense burner that was also called a Nef. 

Brandu
(AKA-SCA) Capt. Elias Gedney


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