pâté

Forms

pâté m (plural pâtés)^[1] Old French pasté; the spelling pâté dates from the 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French pâte + -é.^[4][1][5] Littré explains the Old French noun as having the form of a passive participle of paste (“dough”), meaning something made with dough.^[6] pâte is from Late Latin pasta.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1170 in Chrétien de Troyes's Érec et Énide, for a pastry enclosing meat or fish.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

At first pâté was the cooked crust of dough around a filling of meat, poultry or fish.^[8] As the word was no longer felt to belong with pâte, it came to name the filling itself: a minced-meat preparation cooked in a pot (pasté en pot, late 14th century, in Taillevent) and a cold charcuterie preparation (1538).^[4][8] To bring back the first sense French now has to say pâté en croûte.^[8] Pâté de foie gave the figurative avoir les jambes en pâté de foie “to have weak legs”.^[8][3]

By likeness of shape the word named a blot of ink (1606), a block of houses (1813) and a sand pie built by children (1886).^[4] Quebec French has pâté chinois, a layered dish of beef, corn and mashed potatoes, and pâté impérial is a translation from Chinese for a fried roll.^[8]

English took the word in 1706 for a small pie or pastry.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses pasté in Érec et Énide.^[4]
• late 14th century – Pasté en pot appears in Taillevent's Viandier.^[4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records the cold charcuterie sense.^[3]
• 1606 – Crespin records the sense “ink blot”.^[4]
• 1706 – English pâté is first recorded.^[9]
• 1813 – Jouy uses it for a block of houses.^[4]
• 1886 – Zola writes pâtés de sable.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A pastry crust enclosing minced meat or fish.^[10][4]
2. Pâté en croûte: a piece of charcuterie made of seasoned minced meat or fish baked in a crust.^[10][3]
3. pâté, a preparation of minced meat, offal, fish or vegetables cooked in a terrine and eaten cold: pâté de campagne, pâté de foie.^[10][11]
4. Pâté impérial: a fried rice-paper roll filled with meat, a nem.^[10][8]
5. (familiar) A large blot of ink.^[11][4]
6. A small mound of moulded sand made by children.^[11][4]
7. Pâté de maisons: a block of houses bounded by streets.^[11][4]

Related words

• pâte
• pâtisserie
• pâtissier
• Late Latin pasta
• English pâté
• English patty

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)