We eat a lot of bread in our house. I’ve got four kids, and it’s a cheap way to fill them up. 😉 The other night, while my youngest chewed on what he calls “the butt” (or end) of a baguette, he asked, “What does baguette mean, anyway?” Turns out, baguette means wand, baton, or stick, and the name refers to the bread’s shape. Although this name seems straightforward, the story behind how the baguette got its name is more complicated
According to the website Bonjour Paris, there are several interesting theories or legends behind the naming of the baguette.
Bread has always been a main part of the French diet. At the time of the French Revolution, many Parisians complained that they were tired of seeing the wealthy eat loaves of fluffy white bread while they had to chew on dark, less tasty loaves. The lack of palatable bread, and the inequality it symbolized, was a main contributor to the French Revolution. In 1793, when the new government was established, it passed a law stating that all bakers make one type of bread that all Parisians would enjoy… “The Bread of Equality”. Which was, most likely, the fluffy, white baguette.
Another legend says Napoleon passed a law requiring bread be made in long, slender loaves that could easily fit in the uniform pockets of his soldiers.
Another story tells of the unrest that went on among workers building the Paris metro. In those days, everyone carried a knife to cut their bread, but the knives contributed to the violence. So the supervisor of the metro workers asked a bakery to make loaves that could easily be torn, so his workers wouldn’t need to carry knives.
Nineteenth century visitors to Paris described women on the streets in the early morning carrying six-foot long loaves of bread on their backs. Or restaurants stacking six to eight foot loaves in the corner like firewood. Around 1920, the size of the baguette shrank to what we see today, probably because labor laws decreased the hours bakers could work and created the need for bread that took less time to bake.
Word Nerd Workout
Are you hungry yet? Go out and buy a baguette (or two, if you have lots of kids like me), and share this interesting bread history at the dinner table tonight! Do you know another interesting back story for a food you enjoy? Please share!
Also, if you like learning about words and their meanings, visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion for Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme in which bloggers share new words they’ve learned or words they love.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!
This post has my mouth watering for fresh bread 🙂
Those stories make me wonder: they have so much Truthiness, I wonder if they can be true! Or if they are too appealing? Linguists are always pretty skeptical about things that sound like folklore. Of course the website you linked does identify itself as dealing in “legends” — not as being a dictionary of word history!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Good points. They are fun stories, but not necessarily true etymology. Thanks for stopping by!
I am not as much of a wordsmith as yourself, but I do like to savour my reading and make sure I understand every word, stopping to reseach, if I am in any doubt.
A nice crusty loaf, with some cheese; spread with marmite or crunchy peanut butter; or simply on its own and buttered, would do me as a meal any day of the week. Now all I have to do is convince hubby and that will cut down on the cooking to an acceptable level!
My nieces both used to love baguette, so the bakery was always first stop on any shopping expedition. By the time we got to the checkout, we usually only had the empty wrapper left to scan. Although simple pleasures like this have now been taken away from us, as the supermarkets have decreed that everything must arrive at the checkout, complete and in its wrapper.
Thanks for sharing such an interesting post 🙂
Yvonne
Thanks for stopping by! And can you tell me what marmite is?
We had a baguette at dinner tonight! This post made me think of Les Miz, but I don’t recall any song lyrics about white fluffy bread. :0
I don’t either! How could they leave that out?!
My son loves baguettes. When we lived in France, we’d go to the bakery to buy one and he’d eat the whole thing before we could walk back home. I’ll have to share this story with him.
By the way, I prefer the sparkly kind of baguette. 😉