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

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

Ah. Good to know. Still, in our period, it was plainly 'cum', no? Not that  
spellings were that precise by then (see next).
 
A fly in the ointment here is the antiquity of the term and its use  
("conpanio") in a late version of the Salic law (see LXIII, last column here, at  
the bottom):
_http://books.google.com/books?id=6vY76tDSoNEC&pg=PA42&dq=LXIII.+De+Hominem+
In&hl=en&sa=X&ei=s5MWUbznLa_xigKAmIGwAw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false_
 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=6vY76tDSoNEC&pg=PA42&dq=LXIII.+De+Hominem+In&hl=en&sa=X&ei=s5MWUbznLa_xigKAmIGwAw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
) 
 
This seems to blow out of the water the frequently repeated assertion that  
the word has its origin in the late medieval practice of sharing a bowl (an 
 assertion which of course I just repeated myself recently; blush). 
Apparently  not, since the Franks were already talking about sharing bread early on 
and  there is no evidence at all for sharing a bowl this far back.
 
Interestingly, by the way, elsewhere in Salic law, witnesses to a contract  
are to swear they have eaten the signer's gruel (pultis), showing that this 
was  still as common as bread as a shared food. (I take the phrase here to 
be as  metaphorical as "eating another man's bread"; that is, eating 
anything at  another's table.)

Otherwise, for the true word nerds, this article has an  erudite look at 
the German side of this (page 7):
_http://www.lacus.org/volumes/30/101_dellaVolpeAngela.pdf_ 
(http://www.lacus.org/volumes/30/101_dellaVolpeAngela.pdf) 
 
 
 
Jim  Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste  Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France  

 
In a message dated 2/9/2013 10:06:53 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
t.d.decker at att.net writes:

In Latin  etymology, "com-" is the older form, believed to be derived from 
the  Proto-Indo European "kom-."  "Cum-" is associated with Classic Latin  
(1st Century BCE - 3rd Century CE), but the older form was acceptable and  
understood.