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Today's podictionary word is stew .
A mixture of meat and potatoes, carrots and a sort of gravy got its name from the pot in which it was cooked.
The food itself wasn't called stew until about 250 years ago, but the stew pot was called a stew 700 years ago and more.
In fact this word goes far back enough that etymologists believe it is ultimately related to the word stove although the traces of quite how are lost.
Around 500 years ago both stew and stove shared a meaning of “a heated room” before they parted company to assume their current meanings.
From a heated room, stew took on quite a different meaning of heat when it was used as a euphemism for a prostitute's room—the thinking being not that hot things went on there, that might be too bold for the strict sensibilities of the day, but that hookers plied their trade in bath houses.
Stew then of course became a euphemism for the prostitutes themselves.
Today's podictionary word is stew. A mixture of meat and potatoes, carrots and a sort of gravy got its name from the pot in which it was cooked.
The food itself wasn't called stew until about 250 years ago, but the stew pot was called a stew 700 years ago and more. In fact this word goes far back enough that etymologists believe it is ultimately related to the word stove although the traces of quite how are lost.
Around 500 years ago both stew and stove shared a meaning of “a heated room” before they parted company to assume their current meanings. From a heated room, stew took on quite a different meaning of heat when it was used as a euphemism for a prostitute's room—the thinking being not that hot things went on there, that might be too bold for the strict sensibilities of the day, but that hookers plied their trade in bath houses. Stew then of course became a euphemism for the prostitutes themselves.
