Etymologically
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pastum

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Forms

pastum n (genitive pastī); second declension[1] The DMLBS records it beside the masculine pastus and the feminine pasta.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin pasta (“dough, paste”), made neuter.[1][3] The DMLBS treats the three forms in one article and traces them, through Late Latin, to Ancient Greek παστά (pastá) or πάστη (pástē).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the first record to about 1197, from Latham's word list of British Medieval Latin,[3] where it means dough.[3][2] Gerald of Wales complains of monks who demand pastum and pastillum from those who enter the monastery.[2]

Semantic evolution

It stayed a word of the bakery: British records speak of bread “or dough” issued as an allowance, of bakers and millers who steal dough or flour, and of loaves weighed by their dough.[2] In Poland it is recorded in the 16th century for the dough of loaves and glossed with Polish “ciasto”.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1197 – First recorded in British Latin, for dough.[3][2]
  • 1216 – A royal writ grants hounds their allowance of bread or dough.[2]
  • 1327 – A London record speaks of dough laid on a baker's table.[2]
  • 1516 – A Polish chapter-court record weighs loaves by a stone of dough.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) dough, paste of flour and water.[2][3][1]

Usage notes

Köbler also lists a medieval pāstum (with variants pēssum, poosum) meaning livelihood or the fattening of pigs, from pāscō, known from glosses.[3] Du Cange cites pastum for a pasture in a charter of 1196 from Marseille.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre