A specialist in medieval European languages with an interest in the vocabulary of trades, crafts, and culinary arts, William Sayers explores in this essay collection the possible origins of a variety of words and others which may be associated with them. Sayers’ broad grasp of languages means that he can move between, say, fifteenth century English and sixteenth century French with apparent ease, and tends to assume a similar agility in his reader, or at least some comfort with verb and noun forms. Whether he’s discussing scullion or cod, chowder or spatchcock, Sayers displays a grasp of literature that is much greater than the culinary terms on which he focuses. His endnotes and bibliography reinforce this further, citing Irish legal tracts on beekeeping, studies of the prevalence of Basque words in pidgin languages of the Atlantic coast of North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and a collection of Anglo-Saxon riddle songs. Rather than a glib set of speculations, this is a careful exploration which suggests this difficulties of unraveling etymologies at centuries-long remove. Paperback. Line illustrations
