Where does “pancake” come from?
Pancake comes from Middle English pancake, combining Middle English panne from Old Norse kaka, ultimately tracing through Latin pannus, penna, and pinna in a complex etymological path.
pancake (English): A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle...
Definitions
- A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle...
Ancestry of “pancake”, step by step
pancake traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English pancake
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | pancake | pancake |
| 2 | Middle English | panne | A pan, skillet, tin, or cookpot; any metal... |
| 3 | Old English | panne | pan, frying pan |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | pannā | pan |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | pannǭ | pan |
| 6 | Latin | panna | broad cooking vessel; frying pan; pan |
| 7 | Latin | patīna | A broad, shallow dish, a pan, stewpan |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | πατάνη | kind of flat dish |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pet-ano | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pete- | to spread, stretch out |
| 11 | Proto-Finnic | ete- | — |
| 12 | Serbo-Croatian | tẹ́ | of you |
| 13 | Proto-Slavic | ta | inflection of *tъ: ## feminine singular ##... |
via Dutch pannekoek
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dutch | pannekoek | — |
| 2 | Middle Dutch | pannecoeke | — |