| The first time I went to a restaurant as a boy (a rare and exciting treat in those days), I noticed that the menu described the main courses as "entrees."
Associating this word with "entries," I immediately pictured the food selections as horses lined up at the starting gate, ready to compete. It's Spaghetti in the lead by a noodle, with Steak sizzling in second and Chicken bringing up the rear!
In fact, my instinct wasn't far off. "Entree" is, in fact, derived from the Old French "entree," which meant "to enter." And we still use "entree" to mean "permission or right to entry" when we say, "My friendship with the owner provided an entree into the company."
During the 1700s, "entree" also developed a specific culinary meaning. Back then, formal dining brought forth an endless succession of courses -- soup, salad, fish, berries, shrubs, meat, old shoes, nuts (hence, our expression "soup to nuts").
The centerpiece of such a meal was invariably the roast. So, the light course or appetizer served just before the roast was dubbed the "entree" because it served as a kind of entrance to the main course.
When dining became less elaborate and fewer courses were offered, the term "entree" somehow came to denote the main course. Perhaps this was by mistake, or perhaps it reflected our fondness for using pretentious French words to describe foods, even if the meaning of those words is ambiguous.
Another food word with horsy connotations is "gourmet." It's derived from "groumet," a French word that meant "groomer of the horses." Through the linguistic process of metathesis (the switching of letters in a word), "groumet" became "gourmet" in English, where it came to mean "a lesser household servant."
One of these gourmets would sometimes be delegated to sample and select wines suitable for serving, and eventually the definition of "gourmet" narrowed to mean "wine steward."
These gourmets were noted for their discriminating taste, and soon the meaning of "gourmet" expanded to include any connoisseur of food and drink.
The rise of "groumet/gourmet" from "stable rat" to "table rater" constitutes one of the greatest "Horse-atio" Alger stories in linguistic history. Even today a gourmet reviewing an Italian restaurant might gush, "It's Spaghetti in the lead!"
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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Copyright 2010 Creators Syndicate Inc.
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