Middle English Dictionary Entry
cāke n.
Entry Info
| Forms | cāke n. Also cayk, kake. |
| Etymology | ON; cp. Norw. & Swed. kaka, Dam. kage. Akin to ME kẹ̄chel little cake & OHG kuocho cake. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A flat cake or loaf; also, an unbaked cake or loaf, a lump of doug; haver (ote, oten) ~, a cake of oaten bread; therf ~, a cake of unleavened bread; barli ~, flouren ~, spiced ~; (b) bread of the Eucharist; also fig.; (c) in proverbs and idioms: as plat a ~, as flat as a cake; bolned as an oven ~, puffed up like a loaf in the oven; croked ~, misshapen loaf; nought a ~, not worth a lump of bread; (d) ~ bred, ?griddlecake.
Associated quotations
a
- c1225 Wor.Bod.Gloss.(Hat 115)24 : Focan: kake.
- c1225(?c1200) HMaid.(Bod 34)34/559 : Þet wif..ihereð..hire cake bearnen o þe stan, & hire kelf suken.
- a1325 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Cmb Gg.1.1)462 : Kakenole [vrr. brachole, brakole, ?brakenole]: a cake of spices [vrr. a spiced kake, a kake wyth spices].
- ?c1335(a1300) Cokaygne (Hrl 913)57 : Fluren cakes beþ þe scingles alle.
- (1348) Doc.Finchale in Sur.Soc.6p.xxviii : Item in empcione vini, cervisiae, cakes, pro confratribus et hospitibus.
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)1.405 : They eteth brede, colde and hote, Of barliche and of oote, Brood cakes, round and þynne.
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)7.182 : Hungur hem helede wiþ an hot [vrr. ote, oten] Cake.
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)7.269 : I haue..a þerf Cake [vrr. an hauir cake, two hauere cakis; C: a cake of otes].
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Rv.(Manly-Rickert)A.4094 : He half a busshel of hir flour hath take And bad his wyf go knede it in a cake.
- (a1393) Gower CA (Frf 3)7.3705 : I sih a barli cake.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)226b/a : Som [bread] is y-bake and torned and y-went atte fyre and is y-clepid focacius, a cake.
- c1400(?c1380) Cleanness (Nero A.10)635 : Þe burne..þrwe þryftyly þeron þo þre þerve kakez.
- a1425(a1382) WBible(1) (Corp-O 4)1 Kings 2.36 : And he offre a silueren peny, and a round kaak of breed.
- a1456(a1426) Lydg.Mum.Hertford (Trin-C R.3.20)128 : Al his bred with sugre nys not baake, Yit on his cheekis some-tyme he haþe a Caake.
- (a1438) MKempe A (Add 61823)23/12 : Þis creatur was komyng..beryng a botel wyth bere in hir hand, & hir husbond a cake in hys bosom.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)58 : Cake: Torta, placenta, colirida, libum.
- a1450 Hrl.Cook.Bk.(1) (Hrl 279)43 : Take dow & make þer-of a þinne kake; þanne take Fygys & raysonys smal y-grounde..& ley on þin kake.
- a1475 Liber Cocorum (Sln 1986)p.50 : Breke egges..Do powder of peper þer to [etc.]..Geder hit on a cake..and frye hit browne.
- a1485 *Hrl.1735 Cook.Recipes (Hrl 1735)114 (f.17r) : Ferst ley þi kake of dowe.
b
- c1390(c1350) NHom.(2) PSanct.(Vrn)84/116 : Vre Cake on Crois þei knede.
- c1390 Disp.Virg.& Cross (Vrn)176 : Whon þat ȝe fongen [Christ's] flesch in Cake, Þen schal no feond maystri make.
- a1450 I wole be mendid (Dgb 102)68 : Crystys quyk body vndir bred o cake..Nes parted ne wasted, but al holl take.
- a1500 Play Sacr.(Dub 652)205 : Yowr God, þat ys full mytheti, in a cake.
c
- a1450(c1410) Lovel.Merlin (Corp-C 80)18401 : Stylle he lay, as plat a kake.
- a1450 Myne awen dere sone (Vsp D.13)580 : Fra þy servauntes maystrys take, Þan þai counte þe noght a cake.
- c1450 Dc.Prov.(Dc 52)p.57 : A crokyd cake makyth a stronge wombe. Tortula curuata dat viscera fortificata.
- a1500 ?Rolle De Passione (Tit C.19)45 : Thei..smote him vpon the hede, that it was bolned as an ouene kake.
d
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)16.229 : Afterward þei eten Calues flesshe & cakebrede.
2.
A roundish flattened mass; grei ~, substance used by painters.
Associated quotations
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)12.203 : A flake of this, a flake of that they make, So hath a kake of molde, of donge a kake.
- (c1455) Acc.Yatton in Som.RS 497 : For chelke and greye cayk and paper j d.
3.
(a) Med. A cake containing (or made of) medicinal ingredients; (b) a pathological mass or growth within the body [cp. elf ~].
Associated quotations
a
- c1465(?1373) *Lelamour Macer (Sln 5)40b : Or els make paste, a kake of this sede and wermote..and ete hit for þe wormes.
- c1440 Thrn.Med.Bk.(Thrn)43/11 : Tak sourdokes & salt & grynde it with oyle & mak a cake & lay it to þe sare.
- c1440 Thrn.Med.Bk.(Thrn)80/38 : Tak gayte mylke & mannes fen euen ilike & temper þam with oile of nuttis & mak kakis þer-of.
- c1450 Burg.Practica (Rwl D.251)224/11 : Take j li. of persly and anothyr of sawge..and hew hem small and knede hem in wete-mele..and make þer-of kakys and bake hem.
- c1450 Med.Bk.(2) (Add 33996)199 : Make a kake of clene flour, knede wyþ womannes mylke..& when hyt ys bake [etc.].
- ?c1450 Stockh.PRecipes (Stockh 10.90)87/16 : Take jus of myllyfoyle and flour of whete..and make þer-of smale cakys.
- ?a1500 Henslow Recipes (Henslow)23/2 : Make dow þer-of and make al-so meny litel cakes as þer beþ holys and ley to eueriche hole a kake.
b
- c1450 Med.Bk.(1) (Med-L 136)88/237 : Cake in womannes bely, take perslye, sawge, ysopp, wormode, tansey.
- c1450 Med.Bk.(1) (Med-L 136)188/588 : For þe moder of the euyll cake, take an onyon and kytt owt the myddyll.
4.
In surnames.
Associated quotations
- (1226) Close R.Tower 2122 : Gibbe Kake.
- (1231) Inquis.Miscel.(PRO)1.171 : Edmund Cake, [chaplain].
- (1313) Sub.R.Glo.(1) in BGAS 19251 : Johannes Cake.
- (1327) Sub.R.Stf.in WSAS 7208 : Johannes Wyt Cake.
- (1334) in Ewen Surnames Brit.169 : Joh[annes] Cake.
- (?1362) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.100565 : Will'o ye kakeharpour.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1400 Trin-C O.9.39 Recipes (Trin-C O.9.39) 60/15,16 : Al þe sope schal fayre liggen on a broode cake abouen ȝour canevas, whiche sope, whanne ȝe see þat þe watre is clene ronne from, ȝe schal take and gadre clene vp from þe canevas and put hit in moldes.
Note: Additional quote, sense 2.. Antedates sense.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1400 Trin-C O.9.39 Recipes (Trin-C O.9.39) 22/16 : Make þy bagge so large þat þy saflour may ligge þerynne al plat þe þiknesse of þe gode myllers cake.
- ?a1500 Lndsb.Nominale (Lndsb)788 : Hic panis subverucius, a meleres cake.
Note: We know from the recipe that 'miller's cake' is a flat cake of some kind; the Nominale appears to identify it specifically as a cake baked in ashes (trusting DMLBS, which refers ''subverucius' to 'subcinericius' , glossed as 'baked beneath or among hot ashes'). Clarke's gloss ("myllers cake n. = 'pressed linseed'") corresponds to modern agricultural usage, in which apparently 'Miller's cake' can denote concentrated animal fodder formed from linseed (so, for example, the County Council of Northumberland's Sixth Annual Report on Experiments with Crops and Stock at the County Demonstration Farm, Cockle Park, Morpeth (Newcastle, 1902), p. 23, or the Journal of the Board of Agriculture 10 (1904), p. 34); but we know of no evidence that "Miller's cake" meant compacted linseed fodder in the 14th century, or even that "miller" in the modern phrase refers to an occupation, as opposed to the name of a manufacturer. Hence MED's gloss: 'a flat cake ?baked in ashes.'
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. cake.