Boiled Bread

[Lichen]

I was reading up on a north american language a while back, and it explained how the word for 'bread' ultimately meant 'boiled thing' having come from the root-verb 'boil'. I can recall what it was, so does anyone know which language(s) this might've been?

Also, do we know of any other languages (wherever in the world they might be) that use the verbs like 'boil/bake/cook' to derive basic food terms?

I look forward to the discussions!

[vlad]

Also, do we know of any other languages (wherever in the world they might be) that use the verbs like 'boil/bake/cook' to derive basic food terms?

Nahuatl tlaxcalli "tortilla" is literally "cooked thing" from ixca "cook".

[Ares Land]

Wiktionary traces back bread to a conflation of two roots, one of which means 'boil'
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... raud%C4%85

Latin panis is perhaps from pasco 'to feed' (I don't know if it's entirely reliable.)

Nahuatl has a transparent etymology: tlaxcalli 'tortilla, bread' < ixca 'to bake, to cook'
The word tortilla itself is ultimately from Latin torta 'twisted'

[Qwynegold]

What bread is boiled? Or is it just that they didn't distinguish the words for boil and bake?

[Qwynegold]

Anyway, does English "baked goods" count? There's also Finnish keittää (cook, boil (tr.)) > keitto (soup), keittiö (kitchen).

[Ketsuban]

What bread is boiled? Or is it just that they didn't distinguish the words for boil and bake?

The idea appears to be that "bread" originally referred only to leavened bread, and hence is from "brew".

[Vijay]

What bread is boiled?

Bagels

[Qwynegold]

Oh, I see ×2

[Lichen]

I also believe (perhaps wrongly) that various 'breads' in Chinese cuisine are made through boiling/steaming.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Steamed Chinese buns do, indeed, exist.

[fusijui]

This isn't a case of cooking per se, but Ainu cep 'salmon' is literally 'the thing we eat' c-e-p 1pl-EAT-THING.

[Lichen]

I love that!

[Creyeditor]

Similar to Mee "nota" (no-ta eat-NLZ) which means "food", but also "sweet potato".

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Also consider now archaic uses of English meat.

[fusijui]

Also consider now archaic uses of English meat.

Which is a contraction of me + eat, of course

[Rounin Ryuuji]

No, it was just archaically also a generic word for "food".

[RichardFromMarple]

Similarly meal can mean grain as well as a full serving of food.

[Raphael]

Or, of course, the different meanings of "corn" and its various cognates.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Among them the perplexing to a modern ear "corned beef", in which the "corns" were originally big chunks of salt.