macaroni

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌmæk.əˈɹoʊ.ni/; /mæk.əˈɹəʊ.ni/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian maccaroni, a southern Italian dialect form (standard maccheroni),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the plural of maccarone “dumpling, macaroni”,^[2][4][5] possibly from maccare “to bruise, crush”, a word of unknown origin.^[3][4] Etymonline also mentions Late Greek makaría “food made from barley” as a possible source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wheaten paste of Italian origin formed into tubes and dried (1599).^[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Middle English already knew a related dish as macrouns.^[4] Until the 20th century macaroni was the only pasta commonly known to English speakers.^[4] Because it was an exotic dish in 18th-century England, the name was given, about 1760, to fashionable young men who had travelled on the Continent and affected French and Italian ways,^[7][3][4] after the Macaroni Club (1764);^[3][4] hence a fop or dandy, a sense alluded to in “Yankee Doodle”.^[4] From the supposed resemblance of its crest to such a dandy's hair, a crested penguin is called the macaroni penguin (1838).^[7]

Timeline

• late 14th century – Middle English macrouns.^[4]
• 1599 – the pasta.^[7][3][5]
• 1764 – a fop, a dandy.^[7][3][4]
• 1838 – the macaroni penguin.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Pasta made from wheat flour and shaped into short or slender tubes, dried and prepared by boiling.
2. (history) A young Englishman of the late 18th century who affected Continental fashions and manners; a fop or dandy.
3. The macaroni penguin.

Word family

• macaroni penguin

Related words

• macaronic
• macaroon
• pasta
• noodle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press