wastel

English

Etymology

From Middle English wastel, from Old French wastel, gastel (> French gâteau), from Late Latin wastellum, from Frankish *wastil, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *wistiz (“sustenance, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to be”). Cognate with Middle High German wastel (“a kind of bread”). Compare Old High German wist (“food”) and Old English wist (“food”). Doublet of gateau.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒstəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑstəl/

Noun

wastel (countable and uncountable, plural wastels)

1. (now historical) A kind of fine white bread or cake.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     the simnel bread and wastel cakes, which were only used at the tables of the highest nobility

Synonyms

• wastel bread
• wastel cake

References

• “wastel”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Ewalts, awlets

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French wastel, gastel (> French gâteau), from Late Latin wastellum, from Frankish *wastil, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *wistiz (“sustenance, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to dwell, stay”). Cognate with Middle High German wastel (“a kind of bread”). Compare Old High German wist (“food”) and Old English wist (“food”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwastəl/

Noun

wastel

1. A kind of fine white bread or cake.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Prologues”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     Of smale houndes hadde she, that she fedde / With rosted flesh, and milk, and wastel brede.

     Some small dogs she had, which she fed / With roasted meat, and milk, and wastel bread.

Descendants

• English: wastel
• Yola: palske, palsk (vulgar)

References

• “wastel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.