Bator & Sylwanowicz, Selim 21 (2015–2016): 1–23.
ISSN 1132-631X
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English1
Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
University of Social Sciences, Warsaw
Nowadays, the term recipe is immediately associated with the kitchen, various spice
cupboards and cookbooks. Very few people realize that the word (with relation to
cookery) appeared only in 1631 (OED: s.v. recipe). Earlier, since 1400s, recipe was a
common term used by physicians and apothecaries. Hence, it was recorded mainly in
medical writings as the heading of medical formulas. In the field of cookery, it was the
term receipt which was used on everyday basis to denote the culinary instruction.
Additionally, in the late sixteenth century, the term prescription began to be used with
reference to doctors’ written instructions and was slowly replacing the term recipe in
the context of medical prescription.
The main aim of this paper is an analysis of the rivalry between the three terms,
recipe, receipt and prescription, and the examination of their distribution in the history
of English. Particular attention will be paid to various uses of the terms and their
semantic development. Also, a causal link between the semasiological and
onomasiological changes will be considered. Moreover, the fate of the few Old English
synonyms (e.g. læcecræft, gesetednes) will be traced.
The conclusions concerning the present topic are drawn on the basis of a corpus
study. The data have been selected from a number of electronic text corpora including
Dictionary of Old English, Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose, the Middle English
Dictionary, Helsinki Corpus, Middle English Medical Texts, Early Modern English
Medical Texts, and Lampeter Corpus of Early Modern English Tracts.
Keywords: recipe; prescription; receipt; semantics
1
Project financed by the National Science Centre. Decision number: DEC-
2013/11/B/HS2/02504.
2 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
1. Introduction
The recipe has already been widely discussed in various contexts. Some of the
studies which deserve to be mentioned dealt with: (i) the analysis of the recipe
as a text type (for instance Görlach 1992, 2004; Carroll 1999; Taavitsainen
2001; Alonso-Almeida 2014); (ii) the investigation of the particular features of
the recipe (e.g. Massam & Roberge 1989; Culy 1996; Jones 1998; Mäkinen
2004, 2006; Quintana-Toledo 2009), (iii) the issue of synonymy and word
rivalry within recipes (e.g. Sylwanowicz 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014;
Bator 2013a, 2013b), or (iv) translation techniques within medical texts (e.g.
Voigts & McVaugh 1984, Wallner 1987, Jones 1989, Pahta 1998) and the
strategies used in the process of vernacularization of medical treatises (articles
in Taavitsainen & Pahta 2004). The bulk of previous studies deals with the
medical recipe, and is based on the electronic corpora prepared by the scholars
established in Finland (e.g. Taavitsainen, Pahta, Mäkinen).
2
The present paper
aims at a more general discussion of the term recipe and its synonyms in the
history of English.
The term recipe is immediately associated with the kitchen, various spice
cupboards and cookbooks. Very few people realize that the word (with relation
to cookery) appeared only in 1631 (OED: s.v. recipe). Earlier, since 1400s,
recipe was a common term used by physicians and apothecaries, and it was
recorded mainly in medical writings as the heading of medical formulas. In the
field of cookery, it was the term receipt which was used on everyday basis to
denote the culinary instruction.
Nowadays, the terms recipe and receipt have distinctive meanings and no
one uses them interchangeably. However, they have a common origin. Both
were derived from post-classical Latin. The earlier one, receipt, stems partly
from Anglo-Norman (AN) recipte, receite, receyte, resceite and partly from AN
receipt, recet, recept, reset, resset. In Anglo-Norman it was used with the
following senses: “receptacle; receipt, receiving; collection (of money); money
received; receipt (document); right of admission into a court; reception; act of
accepting; jurisdiction; recipe (medical)” (AND: s.v. receite
1
). The word was
present in English from the fourteenth century. The first record of receipt with
the sense which is of interest for the present study comes from Trevisa (1398)
and is purely medical. The term referred to “a statement of the ingredients and
2
For a comparison of the typological features of the culinary and medical recipes, see
Bator & Sylwanowicz (forthc.).
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 3
procedure necessary for making a medicinal preparation, a prescription; also a
medicine made according to such a prescription” (OED: s.v. receipt n. IV.12.a).
The first culinary reference of receipt comes from the end of the sixteenth
century (1595), from Widowes Treasure, in which it was used as “a statement of
the ingredients and procedure required for making a dish or an item of food or
drink”, see (1), (OED: s.v. receipt n.IV.14).
(1) A notable receite to make Ipocras (Widowes Treasure, 1595)
The noun recipe occurred in English later than receipt, in the sixteenth century
(see (2)). It was derived from post-classical Latin recipe “formula for the
composition or use of a medicine”, also “a medicine prepared according to
such a formula, a remedy” (OED). A century later, the sense “a statement of
the ingredients and procedure required for making something, esp. a dish in
cookery” was added, see (3).
(2) This phisition whan I was wrytinge these thynges, and takyng my iourney
from Frankeford, wher he was wrytynge his recipe, was asked [...] what he
thought of Guaiacum. (T. Paynell, De Morbo Gallico, 1533)
(3) Thou art rude, And dost not know the Spanish composition [...] What is
the recipe? Name the ingredients. (B. Jonson, New Inne, 1631)
However, it should be mentioned that the form recipe was known much
earlier, since the verb recipe, borrowed from classical Latin recipe, was present
in English from 1300. It was used in medical writings, at the beginning of a
medical prescription to denote ‘take’, see for instance (4). Its traces can be
found also in culinary writings, e.g. (5).
3
The verb became obsolete in the
seventeenth century.
(4) Recipe alisaundir-rote, persil-rote [...] simul terantur et coquantur in
dulcidrio, anglice wrt, et fiat inde cervisia et bibatur. (T. Hunt,
Pop.Med.13
th
cent. Eng., 1300)
3
For a discussion on the verb recipe in culinary texts, see Bator (2014: 177–182).
4 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
(5) Paste Ryall. Recipe your sugour clene claryfyede & put yt in a clene panne
& seth yt softlye unto þe hyeghe aforseyde of your quynces, þen set yt from
þe fyere uppon a hedles vesell & with a rownde staffe fast stere it tyll he be
whyQte as snowe. þen put þerto fyne pouder gynger & put yt in bokes, &
þen set hym in stewes & fiat. (A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes,
eMus CS 17, Paste Ryall, 1495)
Additionally, the term prescription appeared in English with reference to
medicine in the late sixteenth century and was slowly replacing the term recipe
in the context of medical instruction. Earlier it was used with reference to law
(from the beginning of the fifteenth century). The term was derived from
Anglo-Norman prescripcioun, prescriptioun and denoted (among others) “a
doctor’s instruction, usually in writing, for the composition and use of a
medicine; the action of prescribing a medicine; and a medicine prescribed”
(OED: s.v. prescription, n.1 II.5.a) (see (6)). Table 1 presents the medical and
culinary senses of the analyzed terms together with their origin and date of
appearance in English.
(6) Quhairin I am constrynit of necessitie to vse the prescriptioun of sum
medicinis in Latine. (G. Skeyne, Breve Descr.Pest in Tracts, 1568)
Table 1. The culinary and medical references of the analyzed lexemes.
Lexeme Sense Origin Introduced
(OED)
receipt
MEDICAL: a statement of the ingredients
and procedure necessary for making a
medicinal preparation, a formula; also a
medicine made according to such a formula. AN <
Lat.
1398
CULINARY: a statement of the ingredients
and procedure required for making a dish or
an item of food or drink.
1595
recipe
MEDICAL: formula for the composition or
use of a medicine.
Lat. 1533
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 5
CULINARY: a statement of the ingredients
and procedure required for making something,
esp. a dish in cookery.
1631
prescription
MEDICAL: a doctor’s instruction, usually in
writing, for the composition and use of a
medicine; the action of prescribing a
medicine; and a medicine prescribed.
AN 1568
The main aim of the present paper is to present the co-existence or rivalry
between the three terms – recipe, receipt, prescription – and to examine their
distribution in the history of English. Special attention will be paid to the
medical and culinary uses of the terms and their semantic development.
Moreover, we shall begin with the presentation of the fate of the few Old
English synonyms (e.g. læcecræft, gesetednes) which disappeared after the
introduction of the Romance terms.
The material used for the research comes from various corpora including
Dictionary of Old English (DOE), Helsinki Corpus (HC), Innsbruck Corpus of
Middle English Prose (IC), Middle English Dictionary (MED), Middle English
Medical Texts (MEMT), Early Modern English Medical Texts (EMEMT),
Lampeter Corpus of Early Modern English Tracts (LC), and a corpus of
medieval culinary recipes (Bator 2014).
2. The medical context
In the Old English period all the vocabulary items referring to ‘medicine’ were
formed from the base leech, which referred to “a physician, one who practises
the healing art” (OED: s.v. leech n.1). Leech was extremely productive in
forming compounds and derivatives expressing various medical senses, such as
leechbook, leechcraft, leechdom, leeching, etc., but also senses less directly
connected with medicine, as for instance leechwort which referred to a plant or
herb (see for instance (7)–(8)).
4
The total number of occurrences of the leech-
terms found in the analyzed corpora has been shown in Table 2.
4
For a detailed discussion of the term leech and its Middle English synonyms, see
Sylwanowicz (2003).
6 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
(7) Lychanis stephanice = lecevyrt. (DOE, Latin-Old English Glossaries: Von
Lindheim 1941)
(8) quinqueneruia = leciuyrt (DOE, Latin-Old English Glossaries: Pheifer
1974)
Table 2. The number of occurrences of the leech-terms in the analyzed corpora.
Lexeme Sense
Old
English
Middle
English
early Modern
English
leechbook ‘a collection of (med.) recipes’ 14 - -
leechcraft
‘(prescribed) medicine’ 29 1 -
‘medical science’ 30 18 -
leechdom
‘(prescribed) medicine’ 281 - -
‘(med.) recipe / medical
formula’
1 - -
leechery ‘medical science’ - - 3
leeching
‘(med.) recipe / medical
formula’
5 - -
‘medical care / healing’ 8 10 -
TOTAL 368 29 3
Leechbook “a collection of (med.) recipes” seems to have been a clearly defined
term, which is evidenced by examples (9) and (10). The term leechbook is
usually found in titles and in fragments where the author directs the reader to
a collection of recipes and/or medicines, or refers to a particular recipe
collection (see (10)).
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 7
(9) Læcedomas gif omihtre blod yfele wætan on þam milte syn þindende, þonne
sceal him mon blod lætan on þas wisan þe þeos læceboc segþ be þæs blodes
hiwe. (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
(10) Læcedomas wiþ wifa gecyndum forsetenum eallum wifa tydernessum, gif
wif bearn ne mæge geberan oþþe gif bearn weorþe deadon wifes innoþe oððe
gif hio cennan ne mæge do on hire gyrdels þas gebedo swa on þisum
læcebocum segþ; (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
The remaining three lexemes (leechcraft, leechdom and leeching) could have
referred to at least two senses, which were very often close to one another. For
instance, a number of occurrences of leechdom do not clearly indicate the exact
meaning of the word (the context may suggest two senses, i.e. ‘a prescribed
medicine’ or ‘a medical formula/instruction’), see (11)–(13).
(11) Læcedomas gif men yrne blod of nebbe, eft blodsetena ge onto bindanne ge
on eare to donne ge horse ge men, (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
(12) Læcedom wiþ gesnote wiþ geposum. (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
(13) Læcedomas wiþ sarum weolorum. (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
In most cases when the Old English text was accompanied by its Latin
translation, leechdom was translated as Lat. remedia ‘cure, remedy’, e.g. (14).
However, in a number of examples it was translated as medicina ‘medical art,
treatment’, see (15), which serves as evidence for the two senses of the noun.
(14) Benedic domine creaturam istam ut sit remedium salutare generi humano
presta per inuocationem nominis tui quicumque ex ea sumpserit corporis
sanitatem et anime tutelam percipiat per [...]
bloesta driht’ giscæft ðas þætte sie lecedom halvoende cynnes mennisc’
gionn ðerh ongiceigingnome’ ðines se ðe suahvoelc of ðær onfoe lichomes
hælo savles scildnisse onfoe.
(DOE, Liturgical Texts, Durham Ritual: Thompson and
Lindel[ouml]f_1927)
8 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
(15) Medicina per te quem diligere super omnia appetit quo est professa
custodiat ut et ostem anticum deuincat et uitiorum squalores expurget
quatenus centesimi fructus dono uirginitas decorari uirtutumque
lampadibus exornari et electarum tuarum uirginum consortium te donante
mereatur uniri per [...]
lecedome ðerh ðec þæt gilvfia of’ alle giviga ðona is ondetenda gihalda þætte
fiond se halda of’cyme scylda’ fvlnisso giclænsiga oð þæt hvnteantiges
wæstmes’ gefe hehstaldhad þætte giwlitgega ðec mægna æc ðæccillvm þætte
ðv sie gihrinad gicorenra ðinra hehstaldra gihlytto ðec gefende giearniga
þætte gimoete.
(DOE, Liturgical Texts, Durham Ritual: Thompson and
Lindel[ouml]f_1927)
Although, following the data, we see that it was the term leechdom which
dominated the semantic field in the Old English period, the Middle English
corpora do not show any records of the term, though, according to MED,
leechdom was still present in the early Middle English period with a range of
senses, see (16)–(19).
(16) ‘a medicine, remedy’
Raphaæl bitacneþþ uss [...] Drihhtiness hallQhe læchedom & sawless
eQhesallfe [...] he wollde himm senndenn Wiþþ heofennlike læchedom To
læchenn Tobess eQhne. (MED, Orm_1200)
(17) ‘a medical treatment’
Þisne læcedon do þan manne, þa hym beoð on hyra brosten nearuwe [...]
Do hyne into þan huse, þe beo nærþer [read: næþer] ne to hæt ne to ceald,
[etc.]. (MED, PDidax_1150)
(18) ‘medicinal use’
Þeos wyrt [...] dweorQe-dwosle [...] hæfed mid hire læcedomes, þeah hi
feala man ne cunna. (MED, Hrl.HApul._1150)
(19) ‘the art or science of medicine’
Þet mon gistas underuo [...] oðer unhalne lechnað Qif he lechedom con.
(MED, Lamb.Hom._1225)
A similar confusion occurs in the case of a much less frequent leechcraft.
This lexeme is a combination of leech ‘healer, leech’ and craft ‘skill, expertise’,
which suggests the senses ‘ability to heal/to apply medicinal leeches’ or ‘art of
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 9
healing’. However, the Thesaurus of Old English (TOE) and the OED ascribe it
two senses: (i) ‘art of healing/medical science’ and (ii) ‘remedy/medicine,
medical formula/instruction’. The former is easy to deduce as the term usually
occurs in a context in which leechcraft is identified as a learned, acquired,
trained or practiced skill, see (20)–(23).
(20) he him tæhte þone mæran læcecræft þe hine swa mihtelice gehealde. (DOE,
Saint Sebastian)
(21) And het hine þæt he him getæhte ælcne læcecræft. (DOE, Saint Pantaleon)
(22) hine mon lærde ælcne læcecræft. (DOE, Saint Pantaleon)
(23) Witodlice þær wæs sum munuc, þam wæs namaIustus, se wæs gelæred on
læcecræfte, (DOE, Gregory the Great, Dialogues)
As we can see the term is accompanied by such verbs as: tæhte, getæhte ‘taught’,
(ge)lærde ‘instructed, taught’, which identify leechcraft as a learned skill. The
latter sense (‘remedy/medicine, medical formula/instruction’) shows that even
the editors of the dictionaries found it difficult to deduce the real sense of the
term, especially the difference between medicine/remedy ‘a drug/treatment’ and
prescription ‘a written formula’. When confronted with particular quotations
this difficulty becomes apparent, see (24)–(25).
(24) On þissum ærestan læcecræftum gewritene sint læcedomas wið eallum
heafdes untrymnessum. (DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
(25) Genim geoluwne stan salt stan pipor weh onwæge drif þurh clað do ealra
gelice micel do eal togædere drif eft þurh linene clað. Þis is afandan
læcecræft. (DOE, Cockayne, Recipes)
There are a couple of records of the term which could as well refer to the
sense ‘medical formula’, see (26)–(27). However, one may say that these two
examples could as well be translated as ‘remedy/medicine’.
(26) Þanne ys se læcecræft þarto: Nim sumne dæl of heortes hyde and anne
niwne croccan and do wæter on and seoþ swa swyþe, þæt hit þriwa wylle,
swa swyðe swa wæterflæsc. (DOE, Cockayne, Medical Recipes)
10 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
(27) Þis ys þe læcecræft: Sule hym supan gebræddan hrere ægeran and hunig to
and do hym bryð of meolce gemaced, and syle hym ceruillan etan and fæt
flæsc, þæt beo wel gesoden, etan, and he byd sona hal. (DOE, Cockayne,
Medical Recipes)
The third term, leeching, is underrepresented and probably did not have any
significant influence on the development of the analyzed concept. It occurred
only thirteen times in the Old English corpora, however, apart from its
medical sense (see (28)), it could also refer to religion, suggesting the general
sense ‘treatment’, see for instance (29).
(28) Gif þonne sio yfele wæte of þære wambe oferyrneþ ealne þone lichoman þæs
mon sceal mid maran lacnunge tilian, hwilum him mon sceal of ædran blod
lætan gif þæs blodes to fela þince & þære yflan wætan, & eac wyrtdrenc
sellan, ac ærest mon sceal blod lætan æfter þon wyrtdrenc sellan. (HC,
Laecebok)
(29) gif he sweðunga gegearwode and godcundra myngunga sealfunga, haligra
gewrita lacnunga, and æt nyhstan amansumunge bærnet and swingella wita
þurhteah (HC, The Benedictine Rule)
Additionally, following the Historical Thesaurus of English (HTE), the term
gesetednes was used throughout the Old English period with the sense ‘recipe’.
However, such a sense of the term has not been found in any other dictionary.
The analyzed corpora contain the term exclusively with legal and religious
reference, i.e. “a constitution, law, ceremony” (cf. Bosworth & Toller). The
only record of gesetednes with its possible medical sense is found in the
following fragment (30). However, its strict medical sense ‘medical
formula/instruction/recipe’ seems dubious and it is possible that the compiler
used the term to emphasize the fact that one should follow some rule/formula.
(30) Eac ure ealdras cwædon sædun þæt ðeos gesetednys healicost fremade.
(DOE, Cockayne, Bald’s Leechbook)
Although the Anglo-Saxons possessed sufficient resources of their own to
represent various medical ideas, soon after the Norman Conquest, English
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 11
assimilated thousands of words borrowed from Norman French, which
resulted in both the reduction and the loss of Old English heritage.
5
The Old English terms leechdom and leechcraft were being steadily replaced
by at least five Romance items (medicine, remedy, pharmacy, antidote, receipt)
which stood for ‘some curative substance’ or ‘medical treatment’, as in (31)–
(35).
(31) Skabbe is curable wiþ metisines þat [...] clensiþ wiþinne & wiþoute. (MED,
a1398 *Trev. Barth.(Add 27944) 99a/a)
(32) Comyn [...] acordiþ to many medicynes and remedyes and namely of þe
stomak. (MED, a1398 *Trev. Barth.(Add 27944) 220a/b)
(33) Formacie [vr. ffarmasye], þat is laxatiuis purgynge þe colere & brent
humouris. (MED, a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396) 83/19)
(34) Þe first doctrine is of vniuersale antidotez or helpyngez. (MED, ?a1425
*Chauliac(1) (NY 12) 6b/b)
(35) This receyte [vrr. ressaite, resceyte, receiht] ys boght of non apothecary.
(MED, c1450(a1449) Lydg. Diet.(Sln 3534) 78)
Out of the five Romance synonyms of leechdom and leechcraft, receipt deserves
our attention as this noun was also used with the sense ‘medical written
formula’. The earliest occurrences of the term date back to the second half of
the fourteenth century, when it was used with the senses ‘formula, statement
of ingredients’ and ‘amount of received money’, e.g. (36)–(37).
(36) What schal this receyt coste? telleth now. (OED, c1386 Chaucer Can.
Yeom. Prol. & T. 800)
(37) Þenk also [...] Þat longe hast lyued and muche reseiued..hou þou hast
spendet þat reseit. (OED, c1390 Mirror St.Edm.(1) (Vrn) 145)
In the fifteenth-century records we find the noun in a medical context, usually
as ‘medicine/remedy’ (see (38)–(39)) or ‘a medical formula’ (see (40)–(41)).
5
See Sylwanowicz (2007, 2009) for her discussion of Old and Middle English
synonyms of sickness nouns and names of medicines.
12 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
The compilers/translators of these texts, unlike the Old English ones, are
quite consistent in the use of the lexeme and there is no confusion in
identifying a particular sense (‘medicine’ or ‘written formula’).
(38) What may helpen þe stomak or þe hed [...] any receyt or confeccioun,
Herbe or stoon, or al þat leches knowe, Whan þat a cors is leied in erþe
lowe. (MED, c1425(a1420) Lydg. TB (Aug A.4) 1.3630)
(39) Do of that pouder in mylke and hit sleys fleys that light ther on; And that
resyte castith oute wekyd humers þrowe vomyte and olde evillis. (MED,
?a1425(1373) *Lelamour Macer (Sln 5) 83b)
(40) Þe firste is ane oynement of maister Anselm of Jene, of þe whiche he solde
þe Resseit to kynge philip of ffraunce for a grete soumme of golde. (MED,
?a1425 *MS Htrn.95 (Htrn 95) 170a/a)
(41) Þe receites schal be founden in þe Antitodarye. (MED, ?c1425 Chauliac(2)
(Paris angl.25) 307/9)
The use of receipt, instead of the Anglo-Saxon heritage (leechdom,
leechcraft), might be explained by the fact that Middle English medical texts
(especially the fifteenth-century works) were mostly translations of French and
Latin originals. Thus, the introduction of the term, which might have already
been familiar to medical practitioners, seemed an obvious choice. Also, the
foreign term might have been perceived as more learned and prestigious,
whereas leech-terms were regarded as the remains of popular/folk medicine.
Although receipt is found in reduplications, this does not have to indicate that
the term was unknown. Rather, this strategy might have been used to state
precisely the actual sense of the term in a given context, see for instance (42)–
(43).
(42) In alle goode resceytes and medicyns amomum is ofte y-do. (MED, a1398
*Trev. Barth.(Add 27944) 214b/a)
(43) Yf thou take any medycyne or receyte, that it be made of a certeyn weight
and mesure as the sekenesse may require. (MED, c1475
Abbrev.Trip.SSecr.(UC 85) 330/1)
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 13
In Middle English medical texts we also find the first occurrences of the
lexeme recipe. However, recipe is used exclusively as a head word in physicians’
prescriptions and it stands for Latin imperative second person verb form,
meaning ‘to take’, as in (44)–(45).
(44) Also be þer made suche a vntment þat is riQt mitigatiue. Recipe: tame
comon malueQ M. i or M. ij, & brisse þam in a morter, and put þam in a
quart of oyle of olyueQ and lat þam putrifie þerin 7 dayes or 9. (MEMT,
Arderne, Fistula)
(45) And to þe same entensioun Auicen enditeþ þis medecyne expert, & Brune
graunteþ it: Recipe draganti rubei z/+Q j, calcis viue, Alum, corticis
granatorum ana .+Q. .6., thuris, gallarum ana +Q 4, cere, olei ana þat
sufficeþ, be þer made vnguentum. (MEMT, Chauliac, Ulcers)
The verb was so frequent that it was often replaced by the symbol Rx (see
example (46)), a pharmacy symbol found nowadays in most medical
prescriptions. Today, this symbol is the only indicator of the original sense of
recipe.
(46) Brother leches haue a queynt maner writyng and hard for to rede in
makyng of hir medicynes. Brother when ye seeth in bookes of phisique thes
writynges that is comynly the begynnyng of hir medicines ye shul
vnderstond Recipe that is to say take. (MEMT, Thesaurus Pauperum)
In Early Modern English medical texts the following terms referring to
‘written formula’ are used: receipt, recipe and prescription. As shown in Table 3,
receipt is the most frequent term used with reference to ‘prescription’, which is
not surprising as the term was used with this sense already in the medieval
medical context. We can also observe the emergence of two nouns: recipe
(formerly used only as a verb) and prescription, which became serious “rivals”
for receipt, which later stopped being used in the medical context.
As stated earlier, receipt entered English lexicon early and became a
commonly used term in the medical context. Although first recognized as a
general term for ‘some formula or statement of ingredients’, it soon narrowed
its sense to ‘prescribed medicine’ and ‘medical formula’, which is exemplified
by examples (47)–(49).
14 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
(47) [}A receipt to restore strength, in them that arr brought low with long
sicknesse. chapter. xxxix.}] Take of the brawne of a Fesant or Partridge,
and of a Capon. (EMEMT, 1573, Partridge, Treasurie of Commodious
Conceits)
(48) That most of Men do very readily take upon trust any Remedies or
Receipts, that are confidently recommended to them, can scarce be
contradicted; and their fond passion in the inconsiderate belief of ‘em is so
great, that without any loss of time, they are to be Registred in their Book
of Receipts. (EMEMT,1700, Harvey, Vanities of Philosophy and Physick)
(49) It is true, Sir Robert Talbor did not always observe the directions
prescribed in his Receipt, touching the time of the infusion of Quinquina;
(EMEMT, 1682, Talbor, English Remedy)
Table 3. The number of occurrences of the analyzed terms of Romance origin.
Lexeme Sense Middle
English
early Modern
English
receipt
‘(prescribed) medicine’ 5 49
‘medical instruction’ 3 86
recipe
‘(prescribed) medicine’ - 1
‘medical instruction’ 8 11
prescript(ion)
‘(prescribed) medicine’ - 10
‘medical instruction’ - 49
TOTAL 16 206
A thorough analysis of the occurrences of receipt in medical texts reveals that it
is not always clear whether the term refers to ‘prescribed medicine’ or ‘medical
formula/instruction’. For instance, in example (47), does receipt stand for ‘a
medicament/remedy’ or ‘a medical formula/instruction’?
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 15
Another problem encountered while analyzing the data concerns the use of
receipt as a derivative of another Latin loanword meaning ‘act of receiving’, see
(50)–(51).
(50) of decumbiture, or for the time of any strong fit (if any be) or upon the
receipt of the Urin, or time of the first visitation of the Patient, (EMEMT,
1671, Blagrave, Astrological Practice of Physick)
(51) And truely if nothing else should make one out of fancie with the vse of
Tabacco, it might be sufficient for an equall iudge to thinck with himself
how vnnaturall a thing it is to peruert the naturall vse & offices of the parts
of the bodie, for by the force of Tabacco the mouth, throte, and stomacke,
(appointed by nature for the receipt of food & nourishment for the whole
body) are made emunctuary clensing places and sincks, (supplying heerein
the office of the most abiect and basest part) for the filth and superfluous
excrements of the whole body. (EMEMT, 1602, Philaretes, Work for
Chimny-sweepers)
Thus, it may be concluded here that receipt and its various senses (including
also the non-medical sense ‘received amount of money, etc.’) made it prone to
be soon replaced by other equivalent terms.
Recipe, being seemingly the best candidate to take the place of receipt as it
has been present in medical remedy-books since the earliest Middle Ages, as a
noun did not gain sufficient attention of medical writers. The noun is found
mostly in the titles of some compilations or in general statements, which refer
to some treatises being collections of recipes, see for instance (52). We have
also found one example in which it is used as an explicatory term for ‘medical
formula/instruction’, see (53).
(52) Pharmacopoeia Bateana: OR Bate’s Dispensatory. Translated from the Last
Edition of the Latin Copy, Published by Mr. James Shipton.
CONTAINING His Choice and Select Recipe’s, their Names,
Compositions, Preparations, Vertues, Uses, and Doses, as they are
Applicable to the whole Practice of Physick and Chirurgery. (EMEMT,
1700, Salmon, Pharmacopoeia Bateana)
(53) Some recipeis or prescriptions in some remedies may be used instead of one
another, as a conserve for the syrrop of the same simple whether of fruit,
flower or Root […] (EMEMT, 1649, Rondelet, Countreymans Apothecary)
16 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
The reason for such a limited use of recipe as a noun in the medical context
might be explained by a high frequency of its verbal form, which became a
fixed part of a traditional formula giving ingredients for a medical preparation,
see (54)–(55).
(54) The second Intention is the vse of breaking, attenuating, mundifying &
opening Medicaments; as are these Remedies now following. viz. Recipe.
Rad, Ireos. Cort. Sambucj. (EMEMT, 1602, Clowes, Cure of Struma)
(55) Also, many learned men, of a certaine knowledge and sound vnderstanding,
haue in their bookes greatly commended a playster made thus: Recipe.
Olde dryed Goates dung, Hony and Uineger, being decocted at an easie fire,
to the consistence of a playster. (EMEMT, 1602, Clowes, Cure of Struma)
In addition, in the texts studied we found 682 occurrences of the symbol Rx,
which pigeonholed recipe as a verb used as a head word of prescriptions, see
(56)–(58).
(56) +R of the roots of the hearb dogstooth, of Sperage, of Parsly ana, +o i. of
Sage leaues, of Betony leaues. (EMEMT, 1632, Bruele, Praxis Medicinae)
(57) She was purged with the following, +R Sena +o j. Agarick +Q iij. Rubarb
+Q ii. Cinnamon +o i +s. (EMEMT, 1679, Hall, Select Observations)
(58) You may make an excellent Injection for a Virulent Gonorrhea with this
Water, thus; +R of this Lime Water +o x. Mercurius dulcis levigated +o j.
mix, and shake them so long together, till the Mercurius dulcis precipitates
down to the bottom of a black colour. (EMEMT, 1700, Salmon,
Pharmacopoeia Bateana)
This leaves us with the third noun, prescription, which entered the medical
realm in the late sixteenth century, as in (59)–(61).
(59) Eating [...] raw app[es and things contrary to the prescription of Physicke.
(OED, 1579 FENTON Guicciard. x. (1599) 413)
(60) Phisitians, by whose directions and prescriptions such medecines are to be
ministred, […] (EMEMT, 1603, Lodge, Treatise of the Plague)
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 17
(61) because that Prescriptions never mention the regulation of the Decoction,
nor the degrees of fire, nor the length of time requisite for the Decoction,
which is all left to the prudence of the Apothecary. (EMEMT, 1678,
Charas, Royal Pharmacopoea)
The noun prescription had only two senses: (i) ‘a written formula’, and the later
sense (ii) ‘a medical formula/instruction’. In addition, it coexisted with its
verbal form prescribe ‘to write down directions’ (263 occurrences in EMEMT),
which must have strengthened the position of the noun as the ‘right’ term for
‘a medical formula’.
(62) For suppose the remedie be hotte or cold, a purger of flegme, melancholy,
or choler: it is the worke of inuention, the cause and kind of the disease
being considered, to dispose the remedy in a iust quantity: to prescribe the
same in a conuenient form, (EMEMT, 1609, Pomarius, Enchiridion
Medicum)
(63) For a Fume was prescribed the following: +R Frankinsence, Mastich, each
+Q i +s. Brimstone +Q ii +s. Juniper +q ii. Storax +q i. (EMEMT, 1679,
Hall, Select Observations)
(64) Or it may be prescribed thus: +R Of this Water +o iij. Syrup of Violets +o
i+s. (EMEMT, 1700, Salmon, Pharmacopoeia Bateana)
(65) These are the Medicins I prescrib’d him (EMEMT, 1697, Cockburn,
Continuation of the Account of Distempers)
(66) He being called vnto her prescribed such remedies as are vsuall in this case,
and within few dayes recouered her, to the great admiration of the
beholders. (EMEMT, 1603, Suffocation of the Mother)
As seen in the examples above, the verb prescribe co-occurs with the symbol
Rx (meaning ‘recipe’), which partly confirms the previously stated assumption
that recipe was restricted to a very formulaic context.
18 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
3. The culinary context
When it comes to the culinary terms in the Old English period, not only did
the Anglo-Saxons leave no cookbooks, which would help us understand the
Anglo-Saxon culinary tradition, but also it seems that none of the terms for
‘recipe’ carried the culinary sense.
The earliest culinary reference was found in a fifteenth-century text, in
which the term receipt was applied to a set of instructions how to prepare a
certain dish (see (67)). Even though the lexeme was used as a heading, it
proves an earlier use of receipt with the culinary sense than indicated in the
dictionaries (according to which receipt with the sense “a statement of the
ingredients and procedure required for making a dish or an item of food or
drink” was first introduced at the end of the sixteenth century (OED).
(67) A RECEIPT
+Ge must take wurte, and barly, and comyn, and hony, and a lytyll curtesy
of salte, and sethe them in a potte togedyr tyl the barly be brostyn. And
sythen, caste it abowte in +te hows wheras dowys ben vsyng etc. (HC,
Reynes, The Commonplace Book)
The electronic corpora analyzed for the present study have shown the first
appearance of receipt, other than as a heading, only in 1701, see example (68).
But its reference is not clearly culinary, it could as well be medical. It should
be mentioned, however, that a closer look at some culinary collections (not
included in any of the electronic corpora used for the present study) reveals
even earlier records of receipt with a purely culinary sense, i.e. ‘the instructions
to prepare a particular dish’. The Compleat Cook, for instance, which is a
collection of culinary recipes published in the middle of the seventeenth
century, contains seven records of the noun: six of them included in the
headings and one within the body of a recipe, see example (69).
(68) The Cook, Confectioner or Perfumer have as much pretence to learning, or
the knowledge of the uses of what they prepare. Have not our Servants the
skill to make up all our domestick collections of Receits, which are many of
them the same with theirs? (LC, The Present State of Physick & Surgery
in London_1701)
(69) The Lord Conway his Lordships receipt for the making of Amber
Puddings.
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 19
First take the Guts of a young hog, and wash them very clean, and then
take two pound of the best hogs fat, and a pound and a halfe of the best
Jurden almonds, the which being blancht, take one half of them, & beat
them very small, and the other halfe reserve whole unbeaten, then take a
pound and a halfe of fine Sugar and four white Loaves, and grate the
Loaves over the former composition, and mingle them well together in a
bason having so done, put to it halfe an ounce of Ambergreece, the which
must be scrapt very small over the said composition, take halfe a quarter of
an ounce of levant musk and bruise it in a marble morter, with a quarter of
a Pint of orange flower water, then mingle these all very well together, and
having so done, fill the said Guts therwith, this Receipt was given his
Lordship by an Italian for a great rariety, and has been found so to be by
those Ladies of honour to whom his lordship has imparted the said
reception. (The Compleat Cook, 1658)
The term recipe, whose culinary reference is said to have been introduced in
the seventeenth century (cf. OED), was found once at the end of the fifteenth
century. Similarly to receipt, this first nominal attestation of recipe was used in
a heading to a culinary formula, see example (70).
(70) For to make floure of rys, recipe.
Tak rys and pyke hem clene and wasshe hem, and þenne druye hem a lyte
ageyn þe sonne, and affter bete hem in a morter small and þen sarse hem,
and þenne druye hem wel agayn þe sonne and put hit in a vescell and sture
hit offte for mustyng. (A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes,
TCC_115_1490)
Additionally, recipe was found in the fifteenth-century culinary collections as a
verb, meaning ‘to take’, ninety times, see for instance (71).
(71) Recipe your sugour clene claryfyede & put yt in a clene panne & seth yt
[...] (A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes, eMus_CS_17_1495)
Following the OED, the verb was used at the beginning of medical
instructions from 1300. Its presence in the culinary material might serve as
evidence that the boundary between medical and culinary formulas was
20 Magdalena Bator & Marta Sylwanowicz
blurred.
6
On the other hand, taking into account that ninety percent of its
occurrences were found in the same collection (MS Harley 5401), we may
assume that it was used due to the writer’s misinterpretation of the recipes.
4. Conclusions
The study has shown that the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary has been completely
replaced in the Middle English period. In fact the small number of Middle
English occurrences of the analyzed terms (see Table 2) shows that it was the
period of transition from the Germanic word-stock to vocabulary derived from
Anglo-Norman. The former are clearly on their way to disappear, whilst the
latter are only making their way into the lexicon.
Another striking conclusion is that the culinary reference of the analyzed
items has been highly underrepresented, which might be accounted for by the
fact that the culinary issues were of a lower status than the medical ones.
In case of the medical reference, the presented examples reveal that the
early Anglo-Saxons did not have a clearly defined term for what we understand
today as ‘a medical prescription/recipe’. Surely, they must have realized that
there were some formulas to be followed whenever a given substance was
prepared. But, instead of coining a term for that they made use of the already
existing lexemes, which partly reflected the sense ‘written formula’. This also
throws a light on their understanding of medicine/remedy, which was not only
‘a drug/a healing substance’ but rather ‘a substance made according to some
formula’, hence the lack of a separate lexeme.
In the early Modern English period we can observe how the multi-
meaningful lexemes became arranged within the semantic field. Thus, the
term recipe gained dominance with the culinary reference, prescription became
the medical term, and receipt was rejected from either of these, denoting ‘a
statement confirming the reception of something’.
6
Very often medical and culinary recipes were found in the same manuscripts, which
may suggest that they might have been perceived by the contemporary reader/writer as
one and the same text type. On the other hand, a detailed comparative study of the
two reveals a number of differences (cf. Bator & Sylwanowicz forthc.).
Recipe, receipt and prescription in the history of English 21
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Author’s address
School of English
University of Social Sciences
00-842 Warsaw, Poland received: 15 September 2015
e-mail: mbator@spoleczna.pl revised version accepted: 20 February 2016