[Sca-cooks] Gingerbread

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

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.
--
Urtatim (that's ur-tah-TEEM)