pâtisserie

Forms

pâtisserie f (plural pâtisseries)^[1] Middle French pastiserie (1328) and paticerie (1360); pastisserie in Cotgrave (1611); pâtisserie from 1668 (La Fontaine).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French pâtisser + -erie.^[4][1][3][2] The verb, first pasticier (“to make pastry”) in the second half of the 14th century, was made from an Old French noun *pastitz (“pie”), known only from its derivatives and lost before the 13th century, which continued Vulgar Latin *pasticium (“pie”), from Latin pasta (“dough”).^[4][5] The same Vulgar Latin word gave Old Occitan pastitz (“pie”) and Italian pasticcio.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1328, as pastiserie, in a document from Reims, for pies and cakes taken together.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

At first it covered all foods made of pastry, savoury pies as well as sweet ones.^[6][4] About 1393 the Ménagier de Paris uses it for the making and baking of pastry.^[4][7] The sweet sense won out, and in the 19th century the split between charcuterie and pâtisserie became sharp, which tied the word to gâteau.^[6]

From 1823 une pâtisserie is a single cake or pastry.^[4] It meant the pastry cook's trade from 1803,^[4] and the shop where pastries are made and sold is recorded from 1868 (Littré).^[2] In 1928 it named decorative plaster reliefs in architecture.^[4] English borrowed the word as patisserie in 1784.^[8]

Timeline

• 1328 – Pastiserie appears in a Reims document.^[4][2]
• c. 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses paticerie for the making of pastry.^[4][7]
• 1611 – Cotgrave writes pastisserie.^[2]
• 1668 – The spelling pâtisserie is found in La Fontaine.^[2][3]
• 1784 – English borrows it as patisserie.^[8]
• 1803 – Boiste records the sense “pastry cook's trade”.^[4]
• 1823 – It is used for a single pastry.^[4]
• 1868 – Littré records it for the pastry shop.^[2]
• 1928 – It is used in architecture for plaster ornament.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The making of pastry and cakes: rouleau à pâtisserie, a rolling pin.^[9][10][1]
2. A pastry or cake; collectively, pastries.^[9][10][1]
3. A cake shop, where pastries are made and sold.^[10][1]
4. The trade and industry of making and selling cakes.^[10][4]
5. (architecture) Decorative stucco reliefs on panelling and ceilings.^[10][4]

Related words

• pâtissier
• pâte
• pâté
• pastiche
• Latin pasta
• English patisserie

References

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