Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

OED, on the other hand, is more exhaustive in its caution (lost
typography in copying):

Pizza:
[< Italian regional (Naples) pizza (1531), of uncertain origin, app.
orig. from the region of Abruzzo and its vicinity; perh. < an
unattested Langobardic cognate of Old High German bizzo bite, piece
bitten off, morsel, lump, cake made of flour (see BIT n.2). Cf.
post-classical Latin piza, pizza flat bread (from 997 in central
Italian sources; also in 14th cent. as pissa), flat bread, app. with a
topping of cheese (14th cent. in central Italian sources). Cf. PITTA
n.2
 A derivation ult. < ancient Greek  flat cake (see PLACENTA n.) has
also been suggested, but is unlikely.]

Pitta:
[Partly < modern Hebrew pitt?h (< Balkan Judaeo-Spanish pita slightly
leavened flat bread), partly < the etymon of the latter, modern Greek ,
,  bread, cake, pie, pitta (a1108 in medieval Greek as ), partly <
Serbian and Croatian pita (1685), and partly perh. also < other
languages of the Balkans (cf. Albanian pite, Bulgarian pita); further
etymology uncertain and disputed.
 The relationship of the forms in the different European languages is
unclear. Various ancient Greek etymons have been suggested, but the
word appears to be of fairly recent appearance in Greek (as is
suggested by the variable spelling); also, a plausible transmission
from ancient Greek into the various other modern languages is difficult
to establish. Modern Hebrew pitt?h is written as if descended from an
Aramaic form (cf. Old Western Aramaic pitt, Eastern Aramaic pitt,
related to Palestinian colloquial Arabic fatte crumb, piece of bread)
but there is no continuity between them. The Arabic word for this type
of bread is kimj (< Persian kumj). Turkish pide (1890) is a loanword,
prob. < Greek.
 An ultimate origin in Germanic has been suggested by G. Princi
Braccini (Archivio Glottologico Italiano 64 (1979 ) 42-89), perh. < an
unattested Gothic *bita, cognate with Old High German bizzo bite,
morsel, lump, cake made of flour (see PIZZA n.), whence the word spread
first into Rhaeto-Romance and the languages of the western Balkans, and
then beyond, cf. Romansh (Engadine) petta, Ladin (Ampezzano) peta,
Friulian peta, all in sense 'thin flat bread', post-classical Latin
petta, a kind of bread or flat cake (1249, 1297 in Friulian sources),
Albanian pet? thin layer of dough or pastry crust, Vlach pit pie,
tart, Romanian regional pit bread, Hungarian pite pie, tart (1598);
Italian regional (Calabria) pitta pitta, is prob. < Greek. However, the
theory of Germanic origin presents certain phonological difficulties.
An alternative theory has been proposed by J. Kramer (Balkan-Archiv
14-15 (1990 ) 220-31) who sees the word as ult. of Illyrian origin.]

Many websites claim that the addition of cheese to pizza came in 1889;
the Wiki article below suggests that pies around 1830 in Naples had
cheese:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza

...A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the french
writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas in his work "Le Corricolo",
Chapter VIII [2]. He writes that pizza was the only food of the humble
people in Naples during winter, and that "in Naples pizza is flavored
with oil, lard, tallow, cheese, tomato, or anchovies"....

I'm thinking it was mozzarella cheese that was first used at the
later date.  The classic Italian mozzarella is cured in brine prior to
sale, while the US variant has a short water-processing before sale;
see:

http://www.winewebcentral.com/triooftrips/cheeses.html

"...  Today, Wisconsin cheesemakers use the same traditional methods
of producing this versatile cheese. As a Pasta Filata cheese, the curds
are kneaded, then stretched and formed into balls or logs. However,
this cheese is not cured in brine or aged like the low-moisture
Mozzarella we are most familiar with. Instead, it is eaten fresh, only
a few days old. To keep this cheese fresh, the balls are submerged in
water...."

I seem to recall reading a conspiracy theory about mozzarella once, to
the effect that no one in the US could get that popular cheese without
dealing with the Mob, and that it was thanks to the U of Wisconsin that
the monopoly was finally broken.  No support today for that on
Googling, however.

Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

I've been toying with the notion that Prof. Kebab's chief reason for
making this last change was to acquire the initials B.S.

Django Cat filted:

Funny the associations we make...for "Salvatore Volatile", I pictured an
absent-minded scientist, in a stained white coat, coke-bottle glasses and wild
shock of hair..."Buckwheat Soba" gives me the picture of a somewhat stocky
gentleman in a hachimaki....r

No, I think you'll find it's genuine New York buckwheat -- otherwise
it'd be Buckwheat "Soba".

Oy!

It appears that even the entity has discarded entitihood.  I can't
keep up.

(My spell checker wants to replace 'entitihood' by 'dentition'.
How're your teeth, RH?)

It's been more than 12 hours, and still no one seems to have commented
on Al Pacino "hung out on some Brooklyn Avenue..." [...]

Hung out to dry? Hanging out?

I'm pretty sure this is just another example of the differences between
BrE and AmE.