cookie

The obvious source of the word "cookie" is the wrong one: "cookie" has no relation to "cook," which seems less surprising when you stop to consider that cookies are not cooked but baked. Whereas "cook" derives from a Latin source, "cookie" derives from a Germanic one: namely the Dutch koekje--a diminutive of koek, meaning "cake"--which became the English "cookie" in the mid eighteenth century. Prior to this, and even still in England, cookies were called "biscuits." Given its Dutch origin, "cookie" is closely related to the word "cake," which developed from the Old Norse kaka in the thirteenth century.

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:
postpast
frankenfood
pemmican
frangipani
aperitif
flummery
runcible spoon
mezzaluna
fletcherize
abligurition
cornucopia
banyan day
spurtle
appetite
plague-water
nym
spork