[Sca-cooks] Gingerbread

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 15, 2008, at 2:43 AM, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> Adamantius wrote"
>> Isn't that "wastel bread"? I thought it was...
>>
>> If so, it's a fine, cakelike white bread eaten by the wealthy. I'm
>> wondering if perhaps "wastel" and "gateau" share a common French
>> root...
>
> I lack an French dictionary that gives etymologies, however it seems  
> highly likely.
>
> Gateau has a circumflex over the first "a" indicating it was  
> originally followed by an "s". Additionally quite a few modern  
> French words that end in "eau" ended with "el" in Medieval times,  
> such as modern "chateau" from Medieval "chastel". So now we can say  
> that it may well have been "gastel". And since French doesn't use a  
> "w", a "g" sometimes replaces a "w" in words that came from another  
> language.
>
> So while "wastel" may not (or may) have originally French, it's  
> likely that "wastel" and "gateau" are related.

The dropping of the "s", as in etude/study, hotel/hostel, hopital/ 
hospital, etc., is fairly common in word pairs appearing in both  
French and English, and the G-W transposition is pretty common, as  
well, as in Guillaume/William, gaufrette, etc.

Most dictionaries appear to suggest that the French gateau derives  
from the Frankish and, in turn, Germanic, wastil, which appears to  
derive from proto-Indo-European terms meaning nourishment or food.

Yeah, okay ;-)

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter