macaroni

Where does the word "macaroni" come from? It comes from Italian maccare, passing through Southern Italian and English before entering English (1769).

Macaroni’s story begins in Italian: maccare meant “to bruise, crush.” A verb of uncertain deeper origin meaning to crush or batter. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Southern Italian as maccarone. Named a pasty food made of flour, cheese, and butter. From there it passed into English as macaroni by 1590s. Borrowed for the pasta dish, later shortened for it as well. It reached English by 1769 as macaroni. Extended to a fop obsessed with fashionable Continental style, via London's Macaroni Club. Today, macaroni means a tube-shaped pasta, or, archaically, a fashionable dandy.

1. Stage 1 · Italian · medieval maccare "to bruise, crush", a verb of uncertain deeper origin meaning to crush or batter.
2. Stage 2 · Southern Italian · medieval maccarone "a pasty flour-and-cheese dish", named a pasty food made of flour, cheese, and butter.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1590s macaroni "a tube-shaped pasta", borrowed for the pasta dish, later shortened for it as well.
4. Stage 4 · English · 1769 macaroni "a foppish, fashion-obsessed dandy", extended to a fop obsessed with fashionable Continental style, via London's Macaroni Club.