[Sca-cooks] Re: *&^%$ Feastocrat!, was: Wines at a Feast

[James Prescott]

In Casteau (published 1604, based on his professional career in the
second half of the 16th century) the French word "banquet" appears
and clearly refers to the entire meal.  Rey et al. say that the word
was probably borrowed near the end of the 14th century from the
Italian "banchetto" meaning feast.

In English, the earliest citation in the OED with the entire fancy
meal meaning is 1483.  The earliest dessert-only citation is 1523.


Thorvald


At 07:24 -0400 2006-04-22, Elise Fleming wrote:
>  Bear wrote:
>>As I recall, the banquet is the dessert course at an Elizabethean dinner.
>
>  I would agree.  "Banquet" as a synonym for "feast" seems to have come into
>  common use post-period.  I seem to recall that there was a transitional
>  period in the early 1600s where the word "banquet" could refer to both
>  "dessert course" and "feast" but I may be mis-remembering.  In general,
>  "banquet" for "feast" is OOP.
>
>  Alys Katharine
>
>  Elise Fleming
>  alysk at ix.netcom.com
>  http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/