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Cook

3 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means to prepare food by heating; a person who prepares food

Where does the word "cook" come from? It comes from Latin coquus, passing through Old English before entering English (1300s).

coquus→cōc→cook

Latin · classical

Livy complains that after Rome's armies returned from Asia in 187 BC, the cook, once the cheapest slave, became the most costly

Old English · medieval

in Ælfric's Colloquy (c. 1000), the cook argues that without him the others would have to eat their vegetables raw

English · 1300s

"one who prepares food"

the verb came from the noun; Hannah Glasse's best-selling The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy appeared in 1747

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Read the full story

Cook’s story begins in Latin: coquus meant “cook.” Livy complains that after Rome's armies returned from Asia in 187 BC, the cook, once the cheapest slave, became the most costly. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Old English as cōc. In Ælfric's Colloquy (c. 1000), the cook argues that without him the others would have to eat their vegetables raw. It reached English by 1300s as cook. The verb came from the noun; Hannah Glasse's best-selling The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy appeared in 1747. Today, cook means to prepare food by heating; a person who prepares food.