LINGUIST List 6.1728

Mon Dec 11 1995

Sum: Etymology of paella

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Michael Lilljequist, Copy of: Etymology of paella

To everybody who responded to my inquiry, many thanks for your
interest and assistance.

It sems there is a general concensus that the origin of the Spanish
'paella' comes from the Latin 'patella', which means a small dish or
pan (diminutive of 'patina'). The words 'poele' in French and 'paella'
in Catalan, which both mean frying pan, also originated from that
Latin word.

The Spanish recipe thus adopted the name of the dish it is made in,
i.e. a frying pan.

Mike Lilljequist