[Sca-cooks] Service and Kraut questions from Gwen Cat

[Terry Decker]

Companion from the late Latin "com" (together) + "panis" (bread).  It enters 
Old Italian as "compagnio" and Old French as "companion," each with a number 
of different spellings.  Linguistically, the word is probably a translation 
into Latin from Old High Gothic.

Some of the illustrations I've examined from the High Middle Ages suggest 
that bowls and trenchers were probably individual with a messe or service 
for two to four people.  Illustrations from the Early Middle Ages are more 
difficult to analyze.

Bear

>  For a long time,
> two  people shared a bowl ("companion" is supposedly from "com pain"; that
> is,  the one one shared one's bread, and the rest of the meal, with).
>
> Jim  Chevallier