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CS wrote:
> I've come across the Latin word 'gentaculum' which is used to mean
> breakfast, specifically, Edward I's c. 1286.
> I assume the '-culum' suffix means 'little' but can find nothing
> about it anywhere. A little what? Any help as to its meaning etc.
> would be much appreciated.

The classical Latin for breakfast is 'jentaculum", and I suppose the 'g'
spelling is simply a mediaeval spelling of the same word. (The 'g' before
'e' would be soft in 13th century Latin). The verb "jento" means to have
breakfast, and these words are related to the adjective 'jejunus", meaning
hungry, fasting. So a 'jentaculum' is a little something eaten to break
one's overnight fast - I suppose.

Alan Jones

On Thu, 1 May 2003 16:47:08 +0100, "CS" <coredon@clara.net>
wrote:

>I've come across the Latin word 'gentaculum' which is used to mean
>breakfast, specifically, Edward I's c. 1286.
>I assume the '-culum' suffix means 'little' but can find nothing about it
>anywhere. A little what? Any help as to its meaning etc. would be much
>appreciated.

According to Latham's Revised Medieval Latin Word-List, it's a
variant of <jentaculum> 'collation provided by new member of
guild; breakfast'.  In the sense 'breakfast' <jentaculum> is
classical, from the verb <jentare> 'to breakfast'.  No idea what
the ulterior etymology might be.

Brian

On Thu, 01 May 2003 17:28:34 GMT, the renowned b.scott@csuohio.edu
(Brian M. Scott) wrote:

>On Thu, 1 May 2003 16:47:08 +0100, "CS" <coredon@clara.net>
>wrote:
>
>>I've come across the Latin word 'gentaculum' which is used to mean
>>breakfast, specifically, Edward I's c. 1286.
>>I assume the '-culum' suffix means 'little' but can find nothing about it
>>anywhere. A little what? Any help as to its meaning etc. would be much
>>appreciated.
>
>According to Latham's Revised Medieval Latin Word-List, it's a
>variant of <jentaculum> 'collation provided by new member of
>guild; breakfast'.  In the sense 'breakfast' <jentaculum> is
>classical, from the verb <jentare> 'to breakfast'.  No idea what
>the ulterior etymology might be.

On another jentacular note, breakfast in French is "petit d�jeuner"-
"little lunch(eon)".

Best regards, 
Spehro Pefhany
-- 
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

"Alan Jones" <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote
...
> The classical Latin for breakfast is 'jentaculum", and I suppose the 'g'
> spelling is simply a mediaeval spelling of the same word. (The 'g' before
> 'e' would be soft in 13th century Latin). The verb "jento" means to have
> breakfast, and these words are related to the adjective 'jejunus", meaning
> hungry, fasting. So a 'jentaculum' is a little something eaten to break
> one's overnight fast - I suppose.

Can't find the connection betw. jejunare and jentare (any
suggestions?) even though they produced parallel words (dis-[je]junare
> d�jeuner, d�ner, dinner vs. jentare > jantar, xantar).

In old spanish there is the word 'yantar' meaning 'to eat' as a verb and
'lunch' as a noun, and which have evolutionated to the verb 'jalar' with the
same meaning.

Best regards.
Juan Mart�nez-Almeida Gonz�lez

"Spehro Pefhany" <speff@interlog.com> escribi� en el mensaje
news:t0q2bvglv3q1ilfhlqghfs5mkaideq6n9v@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 01 May 2003 17:28:34 GMT, the renowned b.scott@csuohio.edu
> (Brian M. Scott) wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 1 May 2003 16:47:08 +0100, "CS" <coredon@clara.net>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>I've come across the Latin word 'gentaculum' which is used to mean
> >>breakfast, specifically, Edward I's c. 1286.
> >>I assume the '-culum' suffix means 'little' but can find nothing about
it
> >>anywhere. A little what? Any help as to its meaning etc. would be much
> >>appreciated.
> >
> >According to Latham's Revised Medieval Latin Word-List, it's a
> >variant of <jentaculum> 'collation provided by new member of
> >guild; breakfast'.  In the sense 'breakfast' <jentaculum> is
> >classical, from the verb <jentare> 'to breakfast'.  No idea what
> >the ulterior etymology might be.
>
> On another jentacular note, breakfast in French is "petit d�jeuner"-
> "little lunch(eon)".
>
> Best regards,
> Spehro Pefhany
> -- 
> "it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
> speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers:
http://www.trexon.com
> Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:
http://www.speff.com

"Spehro Pefhany" <speff@interlog.com> wrote in message
news:t0q2bvglv3q1ilfhlqghfs5mkaideq6n9v@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 01 May 2003 17:28:34 GMT, the renowned b.scott@csuohio.edu
> (Brian M. Scott) wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 1 May 2003 16:47:08 +0100, "CS" <coredon@clara.net>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>I've come across the Latin word 'gentaculum' which is used to mean
> >>breakfast, specifically, Edward I's c. 1286.
> >>I assume the '-culum' suffix means 'little' but can find nothing about
it
> >>anywhere. A little what? Any help as to its meaning etc. would be much
> >>appreciated.
> >
> >According to Latham's Revised Medieval Latin Word-List, it's a
> >variant of <jentaculum> 'collation provided by new member of
> >guild; breakfast'.  In the sense 'breakfast' <jentaculum> is
> >classical, from the verb <jentare> 'to breakfast'.  No idea what
> >the ulterior etymology might be.
>
> On another jentacular note, breakfast in French is "petit d�jeuner"-
> "little lunch(eon)".


A more literal translation of "petit d�jeuner" would be "little
dis-fast/little from-fast," that is, "little breakfast." Lunch, then is
"d�jeuner," but it once meant "breakfast," as it did in 1552 when the third
edition of Robert Estienne's *Dictionarium latinogallicum* was published:

From
http://duras.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/Estienne.sh?WORD=ientaculum

"Ientaculum, ientaculi, pen. corr. Suet. Mart. _Le desjeuner._"

(The "s" in "des" becoming silent at some point and "des-" being replaced in
modern French by "d�-.")


--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com