>Andrew of St Victor (C.C.C.M. 53A, l. 650-657) has on that spot:
>
>"Hec erat oblatio hominis laici et de plebe quam ferebat ad sacerdotem ut
>oraret pro eo. Torta genus est panis ex figura et forma sua nomen trahens;
>ad modum enim torquis fiebat huiusmodi panis ut sunt panes quos brachellos
>uocant. Iudei enim putant tortas non in figura set in quantitate differe
>ab illis panibus quos brainellos appellant".
>
>I, too, have not been able to identify the Jewish source for all these
>interesting kinds of bread, named "brachellos" or "brainellos".
>Perhaps someone with a knowledge of Old French could help here. I would
>not be surprised if "brachellos" is a la'az for "kikkar".
>But the source .... who knows ?
Dear Frans,
I cannot comment on Christoph's (Abaelard's) "kikkar", but in the case of
Andrew's etymologies, I have some suggestions:
"torta" seems to be a part. fem. of "torquere" (med. lat. "torcere",
OF/ModF "tordre"), the same word from which OF "torte", German "torte" (and
Dutch "tarte", right?) derive. In med. lat. there existed both forms
"tortum" (neutr.) and "torta" (fem.) for coiled forms of paistry or bread.
"brachellos", or rather 'panes brachelli': apparently related to German
"brezel" (cracknell, bretzel, pretzel); the German word is supposed to stem
from med. lat. *brachitum (< brachium, arm), which gave OHG brezita, MHG
broezte, Suebian bretzet; with a diminuitive form *brachiatellum giving
ital. braciatello, prov. bras(s)adel, OHG brez(i)tella, brecedela,
pricella, MHG breze(l). Says Kluge. I don't know an OF equivalent, but
looking up Wartburg's FEW s.v. brachitum would probably lead you to OF forms.
"brainellos": beats me. Maybe the Brepols editor of Andrew's text doesn't
know to read Latin.
Yours,
Otfried
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