meringue

Forms

meringue f (plural meringues)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown or disputed.^[2][3][4][5] Dauzat, after André Vaillant, derived it from Polish murzynka (“black woman, chocolate meringue”), but the TLFi and Rey find it unlikely that so complicated a word would have entered French without any hesitation in its spelling.^[2][6] Wartburg's derivation from German Meringel has been abandoned: the German word is recorded much later and was borrowed from French.^[2][6][3]

O. Jänicke started from Late Latin meringa, an altered form of Latin merenda (“evening meal”) found in a text from Artois, and suggested a Germanic origin, Middle Dutch meringue (“evening meal”), beside Middle High German merunge, from mern (“to dip bread in wine or water for a meal”).^[2][6] This is doubtful, since no such word for a meal is found in Picard or the north-west.^[2][6] He also linked it, more plausibly in the TLFi's view, directly to the Latin word, the source of a word maringue for a shepherd's loaf and of Walloon marinde (“provisions taken outdoors”): Picard and Walloon kept the vowels written ⟨an⟩ and ⟨en⟩ apart and sometimes put /g/ for /d/, so the Latin word could give merinde and then the French form.^[2][6] Rey finds these learned explanations even more doubtful than Dauzat's, given the very different contexts and the late record of the word.^[6]

Older proposals are an alteration of Spanish melindre (“fritter made with flour and honey”), asked by Scheler, and a pastry from the town of Mehringen, suggested by Siméon Luce.^[7] Pierre Guiraud proposed a Gallo-Romance form *mellīnica, from Latin mellīnus (“of honey”).^[8] Wiktionary instead takes it from a Dutch word of Latin or Proto-Germanic origin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1691, in François Massialot's cookbook Le Cuisinier roial et bourgeois, for the light pastry of beaten egg whites and sugar.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single culinary sense, a light pastry of egg whites and sugar.^[6][2] From it French formed the adjective meringué (1739, crème meringuée), the verb meringuer (1874) and the noun meringage (1931).^[6] English took it from French as meringue in 1706.^[9]

Timeline

• 1691 – Massialot's cookbook has the first record.^[2][6]
• 1706 – English borrows the word.^[9]
• 1737 – Date given by Bloch and Wartburg for the word.^[3]
• 1739 – The adjective meringué appears, in crème meringuée.^[6]
• 1874 – The verb meringuer is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very light pastry of egg whites beaten stiff and mixed with sugar, baked in a slow oven: meringue glacée.^[2][10][5]

Word family

• meringué
• meringuer
• meringage

Related words

• Latin merenda

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 21, 494a
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert