Everyday LifeGreek → English
Aspic
/ˈæspɪk/noun
A savoury jelly of clarified stock, used to set meat, fish or vegetables in a mould.
The Greek roots
ἀσπίς
aspís
shield; asp
Literally: “asp, viper”
Follow a root:ἀσπίς3 words
The story of the word
The dish is named after a snake. French aspic means both the jelly and the asp, from Latin aspis, from Greek ἀσπίς, which named a round shield first and then the hooded snake that spreads like one. Why the food took the name has never been settled; the usual explanation points to the mottled colours of a moulded aspic against a snake's skin, and it may be nothing more than that.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
aspaspidistra
In a sentence
Every 1970s cookbook has a chapter on things suspended in aspic, and none of them look edible now.