The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

French is the language of bread

Pablo's picture
Pablo

French is the language of bread

My new neighbour, a high school French teacher, upon receiving a welcoming loaf of bread from me told me that "pain" is french for "bread" and "copain" is French for "friend".   I don't remember exactly what she said the "co" part was, but it linked bread with friendship very basically.  Inspired to look up "companion" in an English dictionary I find:

companion:  ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French compaignon,
literally ‘one who breaks bread with another,’  based on Latin
com- ‘together with’ + panis ‘bread.’

Pretty cool, eh?

:-Paul

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

as you proved with your "Welcome Loaf".  Cool indeed Paul.  Keep up the good work.

OldWoodenSpoon

Erzsebet Gilbert's picture
Erzsebet Gilbert

I love language, and your factoid is so interesting - I think it says a lot about what something as simple as a handmade loaf can mean.  Wonderful post!

For my own linguistic tidbit... my husband and I spent a month in Turkey this past summer, where we rather overenthusiastically enjoyed the world of local bread.  And one man at an inn in Istanbul told us that he often heard/used the phrase Gun Ekmek used as a greeting or goodbye.  Gun means 'good', and 'ekmek' is bread - you wished this blessing to one another.  

So, gun ekmek to you, Pablo, and to all on TFL!

Erzsebet

dosidough's picture
dosidough

A lovely anecdote.

I keep a little baker's diary so I remember what did or didn't work, what loaves went well with what, to remember about something good if I don't make it for too long a while and who likes which loaves, their favorites or requests. I printed out your post so that I can paste it inside the front cover, because it makes me smile.

There is something primordially special in the exchange or sharing of bread and in the baking too.

Erzsebet, thank you also for your tidbit. This is a lovely community.

 

Bake on....

Dosi

 

RachelJ's picture
RachelJ

That's an awesome thing! in many countries, breaking bread is the sign of friendship and the guest usually gets to do it as an honour thing.

kdwnnc's picture
kdwnnc

so that's really cool!

leucadian's picture
leucadian

You might find this interesting. It's list of words I ran across in French baking texts and blogs, with suggested pronunciation hints: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9848/french-baking-terms

 

Pablo's picture
Pablo

Can anyone tell me definitively if the final "d" is pronounced?  It seems to me that there are a lot of French words where some of the letters are silent.  I thought it was pronounced "bah TAR", and pronounced the same even if it was plural. 

Thanks for any info.

:-Paul

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Acapela Text to Speech and choose Claire as your French translator.

She is said to be the most accurate.

Pablo's picture
Pablo

That's great.  Thanks,

:-Paul

Yumarama's picture
Yumarama

the word "company": those with whom you share bread. And bread further transforms to dough which is also a slang term for cash. People who work together to share income: Company.