Breakfast

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Dr. Goodword
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Breakfast

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Mar 17, 2015 11:05 pm

• breakfast •

Pronunciation: brek-fêst • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: The morning meal.

Notes: This word is interesting because it is obviously a combination of break and fast. Since not everybody fasts every day, the question arises, "Where did this word come from", which I hope to answer in the Word History. Breakfast may be used as a verb: breakfasts, breakfasting, breakfasted, and as an attributive adjective: 'the breakfast menu'.

In Play: Breakfast is a common word, used by everyone every day: "Mom always told me that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but that is not why I skip it." It is very common in the name of a type of private overnight accommodations: "Bed-and-breakfast lodgings are very popular at historical sites in the US."

Word History: Actually, in times long gone by, people thought of sleeping as fasting. Breakfast received its name from the fact that it is the first meal after the nighttime fast. Break came from the same source as Latin fractio(n), based on the past participle, fractus "broken", of the verb frangere "to break". This participle also underlies fracture. Another word from the same source is fragile. English borrowed this word again after French had a go at it as frail, from Old French fraile. The meaning of fast that interests us here is "firm", as in steadfast. Did you know shamefaced was originally shamefast? It became shamefaced by folk etymology when the meaning of fast shifted to "rapid". (We are beholden to Joakim Larsson of Sweden for his recommendation of today's Good Word.)
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: Breakfast

Postby Perry Lassiter » Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:42 pm

Fast is itself a fascinating word. How to define it?



Quick definitions from WordNet (fast)

▸ noun: abstaining from food
▸ verb: abstain from eating ("Before the medical exam, you must fast")
▸ verb: abstain from certain foods, as for religious or medical reasons ("Catholics sometimes fast during Lent")
▸ adjective: resistant to destruction or fading ("Fast colors")
▸ adjective: (of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds ("A fast road")
▸ adjective: acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly ("Fast film")
▸ adjective: at a rapid tempo ("The band played a fast fox trot")
▸ adjective: (used of timepieces) indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time ("My watch is fast")
▸ adjective: securely fixed in place
▸ adjective: hurried and brief ("A fast visit")
▸ adjective: firmly fastened or secured against opening ("Windows and doors were all fast")
▸ adjective: unrestrained by convention or morality ("Fast women")
▸ adverb: quickly or rapidly (often used as a combining form) ("How fast can he get here?")
▸ adverb: firmly or tightly ("Held fast to the rope")
▸ name: A surname (rare: 1 in 50000 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #6550)
▸ Word origin
pl

misterdoe
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Re: Breakfast

Postby misterdoe » Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:10 pm

Word paradoxes like that have always interested me. That fast, for instance, can mean restrained or not moving (stuck fast) or [capable of] moving quickly (fast car) or unrestrained by moral conventions (fast women... and it's always women :?)...

Also, the way some terms are rendered similarly in other languages. For instance, the Spanish word for "breakfast" is desayuno, which means the same exact thing: des- negates ayuno, noun form of ayunar, which means "to fast."

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Re: Breakfast

Postby Philip Hudson » Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:01 am

While in German it is das Frühstück, which means an early piece (of bread).

I get amused at what some people call a fast. Not meant to offend anyone, but giving up dessert for Lent is hardly fasting. And why is to eat only before daylight and after dark called a fast. To me it means I worked through the lunch hour.

My grandpa really fasted. He said he wouldn't fast forty days and forty nights, leaving that up to Jesus. As a humble sinner he fasted twenty days and twenty nights, and that was total except for water. He never told anyone about it. He was just absent at mealtime, praying in the woods.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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call_copse
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Re: Breakfast

Postby call_copse » Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:45 am

Um, how do you know he did it then :? :wink:

There's plenty of folk around these days who might be improved by a little fasting, though I'd say health grounds may be a more sensible justification than religious, but whatever works for you! I could not last that long.
Iain


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