BREAD - Worldwide

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BREAD - Worldwide

• HS Cultural lexicography - Language and Food
• Prof. Josef Schmied

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Definition I(according to The American Heritage
Dictionary of the English Language, 3. ed.)

• A staple food made from flour or meal mixed with
  other dry and liquid ingredients, usually
  combined with a leavening agent, and kneaded,
  shaped into loaves, and baked.
• a) Food in general, regarded as necessary for
  sustaining life If bread is the first necessity
  of life, recreation is a close second (Edward
  Bellamy).
• b) Something that nourishes
• sustenance
• My bread shall be the
• anguish of my mind
• (Edmund Spenser).
• a) Means of support
• livelihood earn one's bread.
• b) Slang. Money.

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Definition III(according to Easton's 1897 Bible
Dictionary)

• bread
• among the Jews was generally made of wheat (Ex.
  292 Judg. 619), though also sometimes of other
  grains (Gen. 1418 Judg. 713). Parched grain
  was sometimes used for food without any other
  preparation (Ruth 214). Bread was prepared by
  kneading in wooden bowls or "kneading troughs"
  (Gen. 186 Ex. 1234 Jer.718). The dough was
  mixed with leaven and made into thin cakes, round
  or oval, and then baked. The bread eaten at the
  Passover was always unleavened (Ex. 1215-20
  Deut. 163).
• The word bread is used figuratively in such
  expressions as "bread of sorrows (Ps. 1272),
  "bread of tears" (805), i.e., sorrow and tears
  are like one's daily bread, they form so great a
  part in life. The bread of "wickedness (Prov.
  417) and "of deceit" (2017) denote in like
  manner that wickedness and deceit are a part of
  the
• daily life.

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Definition III(according to Cambridge
International Dictionary of English)

• a food made from flour, water and usually yeast
  mixed together and baked
• Plural is possible breads -gt meaning different
  types of bread

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Linguistic relations

• Homonyms
• bread food vs. bread money
• ex I needed some bread so I worked as a waiter.
• Idioms
• bread and water the plainest and cheapest
  possible food
• Syntagmatic relation
• Man cannot live by bread alone.
• - saying from the Bible
• - the needs of a persons spirit must be looked
• after as well as those of their body

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Collocations I

• bread-and-butter
• concerned with the things that are necessary
  for life
• sent as thanks for being treated well as
  someones
• guest
• Bread and circuses
• is used to refr to activities which are
  designed for
• keeping people happy so that they do not ask
  difficult
• questions
• take the bread out of someones mouth
• to make it impossible for s.o. to earn money,
  esp. by
• taking their work away

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Collocations II

• break bread with (pompous)
• to eat a meal with
• know which side ones bread is buttered
• to know how to make oneself liked by people in
  power or how to gain their approval know what is
  to ones advantage

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Compounds

• breadbasket an important area for grain
  production
• old-fash. stomach
• bread bin/ box a container for keeping bread
  fresh
• breadboard a wooden board that is used to cut
  bread on
• breadfruit (a tropical tree that bears) a
  round fruit that looks and feels like bread
  when baked
• breadline being extremely poor
• bread sauce a mixture of milk, bread, onion,
  and spices
• breadwinner a person in a family whose wages
  provide what the family needs to
  live on

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Etymology

• Genetic classification
• Indo-European
• Germanic
• Old Saxon/ Old Low German Old
  English English
• BREAD
• Old English
• derived from the root of brew or connected with
  the root of break (early uses of bread confined
  to broken pieces, bits of bread)
• Until 12th century hlaf (loaf) -gt generic name
  for bread

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Lexical Field
focaccia
chapati
kvashnya
baguette
crisp bread
Bread
naan
white bread
ciabatta
fougasse
panettone
pumpernickel
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Bread in other languages

• German Brot
• Dutch brood
• Swedish bröd
• Danish brød

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Prototype Theory
tortillas
pretzel
baguette
Sourdough
roti
bagel
crisp
Bread
rye
white
naan
ciabatta
Whole wheat
pumpernickel
lavash
pitas
focaccia
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History

• one of the oldest prepared foods
• dating back to the Neolithic era when cereal
  grains and water were mixed into a paste and
  cooked
• in ancient Egypt bread-making became one of the
  most significant areas of food preparation, along
  with the making of beer both had religious
  significance as well
• Egyptians are believed to have invented the first
  closed oven for use in baking
• Bread was a primary staple of diet in much of
  European history, from at least 1000 BC into
  modern times.
• Otto Frederick Rohwedder father of sliced bread
• 1912 invention of bread slicing machine
• 1928 invention of slicing and wrapping machine
• white bread was considered the preferred bread of
  the rich while the poor ate dark bread
• Nowadays dark bread associated with higher
  nutritional value, white bread connected with low
  class standards and ignorance of nutrition

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Bread and the Law

• subject of special laws almost everywhere
• Since medieval times, bakers were subject to
  regulations which were supposed to protect the
  consumer
• Medieval laws
• Austria liable to fines, imprisonment and even
  corporal punishment
• Turkey common to hang a baker or two
• Egypt adulteration resulted in nailing the
  culprit by his ear to the door-post of his shop
• France law prevented bakers from increasing
  the price of bread beyond a point justified by
  the price of the raw materials the price was
  fixed every week or two
• England "If any default shall be found in the
  bread of a baker in the city, the first time, let
  him be drawn upon a hurdle from the Guildhall to
  his own house through the great street where
  there be most people assembled, and through the
  streets which are most dirty, with the faulty
  loaf hanging from his neck if a second time he
  shall be found committing the same offence, let
  him be drawn from the Guildhall through the great
  street of Cheepe to the pillory, and let him be
  put upon the pillory, and remain there at least
  one hour in the day and the third time that such
  default shall be found, be shall be drawn, and
  the oven shall be pulled down, and the baker made
  to foreswear the trade in the city for ever."

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Interesting Facts

• Each American consumes, on average, 53 pounds of
  bread per year.
• November is National Bread Month in the U.S. due
  to the celebration of Thanksgiving and the
  significance of bread in American history,
  culture and daily diet.
• Napoleon gave a common bread its name when he
  demanded a loaf of dark rye bread for his horse
  during the Prussian campaign. "Pain pour Nicole,"
  he ordered, which meant "Bread for Nicole," his
  horse. To Germanic ears, the request sounded like
  "pumpernickel," which is the term we use today
  for this traditional loaf.
• In Britain, the ceremony of First Footing is
  traditionally observed in the early hours of New
  Year's Day. A piece of bread is left outside a
  door, with a piece of coal and a silver coin, and
  is supposed to bring you food, warmth and riches
  in the year ahead.
• Scandinavian traditions hold that if a boy and
  girl eat from the same loaf, they are bound to
  fall in love.
• In Russia, bread (and salt) are symbols of
  welcome.

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Bread Superstitions

• Whoever eats the last piece of bread has to kiss
  the cook
• It is bad luck to turn a loaf of bread upside
  down or cut an unbaked loaf
• If you burn bread it means your sweetheart is
  angry with you
• To prevent ghosts from calling, leave bread and
  coffee under a house
• Eating bread baked by a woman whose maiden name
  is the same as her married name is a cure for
  many illnesses
• If all the bread is eaten, the next day will be
  good
• If you put a piece of bread in a baby's cradle,
  it will keep away disease
• Cutting bread in an uneven manner is a sign that
  you have been telling lies
• When a couple is walking down the street holding
  hands and an obstacle comes between them, say
  "bread and butter" to keep the union until the
  hands meet again
• A loaf of bread should never be turned upside
  down after a slice has been cut from it

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Entries in Search Engines
Search Words Google Eng Google Ger MSN Eng MSN Ger
bread 15,700,000 230,000 12,385,154 196,966
Brot 1,390,000 1,190,000 3,488,165 1,982,381
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• There is a band called Bread.
• (www.mid-tn.com/bread)
• In St. Petersburg exists a bread museum.
• (www.museum.ru/museum/bread)
• TV-Show in Germany Bernd das Brot
• German Hip Hop Group Fettes Brot

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Sources

• Soukhanov, Anne H. (ed.) (1992)The American
  Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3.
  ed. Boston Houghton Mifflin.
• Procter, Paul (ed.) (2001) Cambridge
  International Dictionary of English. Cambridge
  University Press.
• Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary http//www.ccel.org
  /e/easton/ebd/ebd3.html
• http//www.history-magazine.com/bread.html
• http//www.bread.com/
• http//breaddaily.tripod.com
• http//www.hungrymonster.com/FoodFacts/
• http//www.botham.co.uk/bread/history1.htm
• http//www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/links.h
  tml
• http//breadnet.net/