[MR] What, pray tell, are beignets?

[Lisa and Ken Theriot]

Istvan wrote:

[whereas beignet is from the early 1800s]


Perhaps in English.  In French, it originally means "little hump" and 
appears in Old French as <buignet> in 1152.  By 1272 the spelling of the 
word <buigne> 'boss, hump' had changed to <beigne>, and accordingly 
<buignet> became <beignet>.

(Above info is from: Greimas, Algirdas Julien, _Dictionnaire de l'ancien 
franc,ais_ (Paris: Larousse, 1997).


Cleireac wrote:

[So are there any Celtic scholars who can share what the original root that 
later became beignets?
The Celtic origins caught my attention...]

Only insofar as Old Breton influenced Old French, and Old Breton shared its 
roots with the other "Celtic" languages (be very afraid when a dictionary 
gives "Celtic" as an etymology).  You see words for 'hump' as ban, ben, 
beann, and the like throughout Welsh, Gaelic and Breton stock.


Adelaide