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BUN

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 796 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BUN , a small cake, usually sweet and See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round. In See also:

Scotland the word is used for a very See also:

rich spiced type of cake and in the See also:

north of See also:

Ireland for a round See also:

LOAF

loaf of See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

BREAD

bread. The derivation of the word has been much disputed. It has been affiliated to the old provincial See also:

French bugne, " swelling," in the sense of a i Ad Dardanum, de diversis generibus musicorum instsumentorum. 2 De See also:

CANTU, CESARE (1804-1895)

Cantu et Musica Sacra (1774). ' For illustrations see Amides archeologiques, iii. p. 82 et seq. • Musicagetutschtand aussgezogen (Basle, 1511). " fritter," but the New See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

DICTIONARY

Dictionary doubts the usage of the word. It is quite as probable that it has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot See also:

CROSS

cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated with the See also:

Christian See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

Good See also:

FRIDAY (A.S. frige-dreg, fr. frige, gen. of frigu, love, or the goddess of love—the Norse Frigg,—the dreg, day; cf. Icelandic frjddagr, O.H. Ger. friatag, frigatag, mod. Ger. Freitag)

Friday, are traceable to the remotest See also:

period of See also:

pagan See also:

HISTORY

history. Cakes were offered by See also:

ancient Egyptians to their See also:

moon-goddess; and these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the See also:

SACRIFICE (from Lat. sacrificium; sacer, holy, and facere, to make)

sacrifice of which they were offered on the See also:

ALTAR (Lat. altare, from alias, high; some ancient etymological guesses are recorded by St Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae xv. 4)

altar, or of the horned moon-goddess, the See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent of See also:

ISHTAR

Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians.

The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to See also:

ASTARTE

Astarte and other divinities. This cake they called bous ((ix), in allusion to the ox-See also:

SYMBOL (Gr. o-uµ(3oXov, a sign)

symbol marked on it, and from the See also:

ACCUSATIVE (Lat. accusativus, sc. casus, a translation of the Gr. aletartKI vrrwves, the case concerned with cause and effect, from atria, a cause)

accusative boun it is suggested that the word bun " is derived. See also:

DIOGENES

Diogenes Laertius (c. A.D. 200), speaking of the offering made by See also:

EMPEDOCLES (c. 490–430 B.C.)

Empedocles, says " He offered one of the sacred liba, called a bouse, made of See also:

FINE

fine See also:

FLOUR

flour and See also:

HONEY (Chin. me ; Sansk. madhu, mead, honey; cf. A.S. medo, medu, mead; Gr. p Xt, in which 0 or b is changed into X; Lat. mel ; Fr. miel ; A.S. hung ; Ger. Honig)

honey." See also:

HESYCHIUS

Hesychius (c. 6th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century) speaks of the boun, and describes it as a See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of cake with a See also:

REPRESENTATION

representation of two horns marked on it In See also:

time the Greeks marked these cakes with a cross, possibly an allusion to the four quarters of the moon, or more probably to facilitate the See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of the sacred bread which was eaten by the worshippers. Like the Greeks, the See also:

Romans eat cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually See also:

PURCHASED

purchased at the doors of the See also:

temple and taken in with them,---a See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom alluded to by St See also:

Paul in r See also:

Cor. x. 28. At See also:

HERCULANEUM

Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in See also:

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

diameter, and plainly marked with across; were found. In the Old Testament a reference is made in Jer. vii. 18-xliv. 19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess.

The cross-bread was eaten by the pagan See also:

SAXONS

Saxons in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of Eoster, their goddess of See also:

LIGHT

light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the See also:

early See also:

Church adroitly adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the See also:

EUCHARIST (Gr. evXapurria, thanksgiving)

Eucharist. The boun with its See also:

Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers mentioned in St See also:

CHRYSOSTOM

Chrysostom's See also:

LITURGY (Low Lat. liturgia; Gr. X€Zros, public, and Epyov, work; )Aetrovpy6s, a public servant)

Liturgy. In the See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval church, buns made from the dough for the consecrated See also:

HOST

Host were distributed to the communicants after See also:

Mass on See also:

EASTER

Easter See also:

SUNDAY

Sunday. In See also:

France and other See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches to communicants who have a See also:

long See also:

JOURNEY (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journee, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day)

journey before they can break their fast. The See also:

HOLY

Holy Eucharist in the Greek church has a cross printed on it. In See also:

England there seems to have early been a disposition on the See also:

PART

part of the bakers to imitate the church, and they did a good See also:

trade in buns and cakes stamped with a cross, for as far back as 1252 the practice was forbidden by royal See also:

PROCLAMATION (Lat. proclamare, to make public by announcement)

proclamation; but this seems to haves had Iittle effect. With the rise of Protestantism the cross bun lost its sacrosanct nature, and became a See also:

mere eatable associated for no particular See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason with Good Friday. Cross-bread is not, however, reserved for that See also:

day; in the north of England See also:

PEOPLE

people usually crossmark their cakes with a See also:

KNIFE (0. E. cuff, a word appearing in different forms in many Teutonic languages, cf. Du. knijf, Ger. Kneif, a shoe-maker's knife, Swed. knif; the ultimate origin is unknown; Skeat finds the origin in the root of " nip," formerly " knip "; Fr. canif is a

knife before putting them in the See also:

OVEN (O. Eng. of n,Ger. Ofen, cf. Gr. Irvin, oven)

oven. Many superstitions cling round hot cross buns. Thus it is still a See also:

COMMON

common belief that one bun should be kept for See also:

LUCK

luck's See also:

SAKE

sake to the following Good Friday.

End of Article: BUN

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