[Sca-cooks] mustard soup, sops and bread

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius.magister at verizon.net> wrote:


> > Hmmm. I'd gotten the impression that sops were bread put into a  
> > bowl with the broth then poured over them, although I don't know if  
> > the bread was just dampened or totally immersed such as you usually  
> > see in "French Onion Soup". As opposed to the bread being dipped  
> > into the soup/sauce/drippings. "Sop" is apparently the root for  
> > "soup". Comments anyone?
> 
> In reasonably modern usage, and possibly archaic as well, "sop" can  
> be a verb, more or less interchangeable with "soak", so you'd use  
> bread to sop up the sauce on your plate. Active rather than passive  
> sopping, hence with the fingers or a fork manipulating the bread. I  
> believe that's the usage you're seeing in this case. Maybe someone  
> has the OED handy...?
> 
> Adamantius

Your wish is my command ...  I have only copied the pre-1600 examples listed.

Huette

Sop. n.

[OE. sopp, sop-, app. f. the weak grade of súpan SUP v.1 In ME. prob. reinforced 
by the synonymous OF. sope, soupe (see SOUP n.), and in later senses partly from SOP v. 
  The exact relationship of the OE. to the OF. word is not clear. Cf. also MDu. soppe, 
zoppe (WFlem. zoppe), sop, ON. soppa (a foreign word), in the same sense.] 

    1. A piece of bread or the like dipped or steeped in water, wine, etc., before being 
eaten or cooked. 

a1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses lvi. 10 Offulam, sopp. 1340 Ayenb. 107 Ase is a zop of hot 
bryead huanne me hit poteth in-to wyn. c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andrew) 375 thane gaf he 
ilkane a sope with his hand of his awne cope. c1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 53 yet sugurt 
soppes I nyl forete, thou tost shyves of gode manchete [etc.]. c1450 Two Cookery Bks. 90 
Then cast the same licour vppon the Soppes, and serue hit forthe fore a good potage. 1484 
CAXTON Fables of Æsop V. xii, Euery daye the sayd dogge hadde soppes of brede, and of 
drye breed he hadde ynough. 1520 Calisto & Melib. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 79 With a toast 
in wine by the fire I could sit With two dozen sops the colic to quell. 1589 R. HARVEY 
Pl. Perc. (1860) 9 Go to then, and take salt to your soppes, lest sorrow attaint them.

attrib. a1000 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 527 Anæ soppcuppan an thrym pundan. 
1012 Ibid. 553 Ic ann minæn cinæhlafordæ..anræ sopcuppan.

fig. 1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. xv. 175 If he soupeth, ette but a soppe of spera-in-deo. 

b. to eat (or take) a sop, to make a slight repast. Obs. 

c1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7547 Preyenge..that he wolde..herberwe him wyth, 
A day to ete a sop, & drynke, & se his werk. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1135 the leue 
lorde..Ete a sop hastyly, when he hade herde masse. c1400 Laud Troy Bk. 7932 Than 
thei yede and toke a sop, Thei ete a sop, and afftir dranke. c1440 Gesta Rom. xii. 
39 (Harl. MS.), If that ye woll voche-safe to take a soppe with me.
 
c. Const. in (or of) the liquid in which the bread, etc., is dipped or steeped. 

c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 334 (Harl.), Wel loved he in the morn a sop of [v.r. in] wyn.  
Merch. T. 631 Thanne he taketh a sope in fyne clarree. a1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 
28 She made euery day dresse..for hem disshes withe soppes of mylke. c1491 Chast. 
Goddes Chyld. 13 Hit is nede that he take a soppe in ale or in wine before mete. 
c1530 LD. BERNERS Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 363 Suche as wold, toke a sop in wine. 
a1533  Huon xiv. 38 They toke a soppe of wyne. 

sop, v.

[OE. soppian f. sopp SOP n.1 Cf. WFris. sopje, MDu. and Du. soppen (WFlem. zoppen) 
in sense 1; also WFlem. zoppen, Da. dial. soppe, in sense 2a.] 

1. a. trans. To dip, soak, or steep (bread, etc.) in some liquid. Also absol. 

c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 228 Asgenim hlaf, asgeseoedh on gate meolce, soppasgie on sutherne.

a1529 SKELTON E. Rummyng 558 This ale, sayde she, is noppy, Let vs syppe and soppy, 
And not spyll a droppy. 1570 LEVINS Manip. 169/20 To soppe, offam intingere. 1597 
A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 28/1 We must first let him suppe in a soft dressed 
egge, or a morsell of breade sopped in wyne.



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