Month: September 2020
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Mason jar
Used by millions to preserve fruit, vegetables, and even meat, Mason jars take their name from their inventor, John Mason, who patented the air-tight jar in 1858. Mason’s own surname likely came from one of his ancestors being a mason, that is, as a stonecutter. The term freemason arose in the fourteenth century to describe…
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Marzipan
The almond-flavoured confection now known as marzipan was originally known in English as marchpane, a name that probably traces its origin back to an Arabic term meaning seated king. This Arabic term—mawthaban—was originally applied by the Arabs to an Italian coin depicting Christ sitting on a throne. The Italians themselves then borrowed this name, spelling…
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Martini
The gin and vermouth cocktail known as the martini may simply take its name from Martini and Rossi, an Italian winery producing vermouth since 1829. However, other explanations for the cocktail’s name abound, including that it was invented in 1910 by Martini di Taggia di Arma, a bartender at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York,…
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Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
After a hard day of waging war with sword and battle axe, the ancient kings of England—Ethelred or Arthur, for example—no doubt comforted themselves with marshmallows. To them, however, marshmallows were not bite-size snacks of sugar and starch; rather, they were swamp plants whose sweet roots yielded a medicinal extract. For about eighteen centuries this…
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Marmalade
The jam known as marmalade in English is known as marmelada in Spanish, marmelade in French, marmellata in Italian, marmelad in Swedish, and marmelade in German, Dutch, and Danish. These words all derive from the Portuguese name for the jam, marmelada, which took its name from the Portuguese word marmelo, meaning quince, the fruit originally…
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Margarita
At least a dozen men have laid claim to having invented and given their girlfriend’s name—Margarita—to the cocktail made from tequila, Triple Sec, and lime juice; not wanting to disbelieve any of them, I assume they all had girlfriends named Margarita and that they all invented the drink’s recipe independently. Although people remember drinking this…
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Margarine
Margarine exists today thanks to Napoleon III (nephew of the more famous Napoleon Bonaparte) who offered a prize in the early 1860s to anyone who could create a butter substitute, a cattle plague having made all dairy products in France scarce and expensive. The eventual perfector of the product named it oleomargarine, from oUine, the…
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Maraschino cherry
Although commercially produced maraschino cherries are one of the sweetest, most cloying foods ever invented, their name actually derives from an Italian word meaning bitter. From this word—amaro—the Italians derived the name amarasca, which they gave to a kind of sour, black cherry. In time, amarasca was shortened to mamsca, which also became the name…
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Manna
According to the Book of Exodus, manna, the food miraculously provided for the Israelites after they left Egypt, takes its name from the question the Israelites asked each other when they discovered it upon the ground: “Man hu?”—which, translated from Aramaic, means something like “What is this?” However, the Arabic word mann—the name of a…
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Magirist
A magirist is an expert cook. The word is not related to magi or magic, but instead derives from the Greek mageiros, meaning chef, butcher, or sacrificer: in ancient Greece, the same person performed all those roles. Magirist first appeared in English in the early nineteenth century, probably inspired by a work known as Ars…