On Sat, 13 Jan 2018 17:20:28 +1100, Peter Moylan
Post by Peter MoylanPost by Jerry FriedmanPost by the OmrudA discussion elsethread has turned to sausages, patty or otherwise.
The <flattened, edible> sense of "patty" was not known in my English
Midlands childhood. I don't think I'd have understood what it meant
until some time in the 1970s. The character of Peppermint Patty in
Peanuts meant nothing to me - it was just a girl called Patty (not
surprising as an affectionate form of Pat) with a cute nickname.
The "Patty" name for a person is a completely different usage. Nothing
to do with the "meat patty". A meat patty is so-called because it is
patted flat by the cook's hand.
...
The dictionaries think it comes from "pâté" and is related to "paste".
Or pastry?
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man,
Bake me a cake, as fast as you can
It seems likely that that poem comes from before the invention of
rolling pins.
Its the other way round.
The earliest quotation in the OED for "rolling pin" is from 1536. [1]
The earliest for the poem is 1698.
OED:
pat-a-cake, v.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: pat-a-cake n.
Etymology: < pat-a-cake n.
1. trans. To pat (a hand) with another in a game of pat-a-cake:
to hit or pat gently;
to move or shape by patting (also fig.).
Also intr.: to pat one's hands against a surface.
[1867 W. S. Gilbert Harlequin, Cock-robin & Jenny Wren iv
Pat-a-cake-a-cake-ing Pie prepare for baking.]
....
1984 Time Mag. (Nexis) 26 Mar. 67 Reagan uses anecdotes to great
political effect in his speeches, pat-a-caking them into neat,
sugar-coated homilies.
....
pat-a-cake, n.
Etymology: < pat v.1 + a adj. + cake n.
A common form of the rhyme is: ‘Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's
man! Bake me a cake as fast as you can, Pat it and prick it, and
mark it with [B], And put it in the oven for [Baby] and me!’ (see
quot. 1698 at pat v.1 3a).
A children's game in which two participants pat or clap one
another's hands (or a baby's hands are patted) to the rhythm of an
accompanying nursery rhyme; the nursery rhyme that accompanies this
game. Also: (fig.) a thing that is very easy; child's play. Cf.
patty-cake n.
[1867 W. S. Gilbert Harlequin, Cock-robin & Jenny Wren iv
Pat-a-cake-a-cake-ing Pie prepare for baking.]
1871 E. E. Hale How to do it 234 But if you will take his little
plump hand and ‘pat a cake’ it on yours.
....
pat, v.1
3. trans.
a. To strike (something) lightly with the hand or a flat surface, so
as to flatten, smooth, shape, or rearrange; to flatten down in
such a way.
1698 T. D'Urfey Campaigners 19 Pat a cake pat a cake Bakers man,
so I will master as I can.
[1] The first, now obsolete, sense of "rolling pin" was:
A cylindrical piece of wood around which a banner may be rolled to
prevent creasing. Obs.
1497–8 in W. M. Williams Ann. Worshipful Company Founders (1867)
47 Paid for iij Baners... Item..for a cofyn & a rollynt pin for
the same Baners, xx d.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)