aperitif

An aperitif is a drink--usually alcoholic, but not always--taken before a meal. First recorded in the late nineteenth century, aperitif derives through French from the Latin aperire, meaning "to open," the idea being that the drink "opens" the stomach, thereby stimulating the appetite. Other words that derive from the same source as aperitif include "aperture" (the opening through which a camera gathers light) and "pert" (a word that originally described someone with an "open" personality, but now meaning "saucy" or "bold").

what is an ort?

an ort was originally a scrap of food or leftover fodder not eaten by cattle or pigs. The word then came to be applied to leftovers from the kitchen table, leftovers that were also known as relief or relics. Ort appeared in the mid fifteenth century as a compound of the prefix oor, meaning not, and etan, meaning to eat; quite literally, therefore, orts are the uneaten scraps of a meal.

mark morton is the author of Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities (Insomniac Press, 2004). His most recent books are The Lover's Tongue: A Merry Romp through the Language of Love and Sex and The End: Closing Words for a Millennium. He teaches English and Learning Technologies at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

previous orts:
flummery
runcible spoon
mezzaluna
fletcherize
abligurition
cornucopia
banyan day
spurtle
appetite
plague-water
nym
spork