Category: P

The ancient Romans either had bad-tasting carrots or good-tasting parsnips because their name for the two vegetables was the same: pastinaca. This name derived from an older Latin word, pastinum, the name of a two-pronged garden fork that in turn derived from pastinare, meaning to dig. The similarity between the prongs of the garden fork…

The ancient Greeks called parsley selinon, a word that became—via Latin, Italian, and then French—the English word celery. This Greek name for the parsley plant may have shifted to the celery plant because—in dim light, from a great distance—the two plants are not dissimilar; scientists, at least, have seen fit to place both celery and…

Parmesan takes its name from Parma, a region in northern Italy where this cheese originated. Today, only cheese that is actually made in Parma is allowed by the European Court of Justice to be called parmesan, a restriction that also applies to Parma ham. Parma, in turn, probably acquired its name from parma, meaning shield,…

Since the mid eighteenth century papillote has referred to a colourful paper frill tied as a decoration to the bone end of a drumstick, lamb chop, or pork chop. The word derives from the French papillon, meaning butterfly, so called because the colourful frills resemble the wings of that insect. In turn, the French papillon…

In England, the original pancake was called afroise, a fried cake of dough that often contained bacon. Froise appeared in the early fourteenth century, and may have derived, through French, from the Latin frigere, meaning to fry. Pancake itself appeared in the early fifteenth century, an obvious compound of pan and cake. Although usually considered…