Quote:
Originally Posted by poli
That's a good question. I now know that edible comes from Latin edere,
but I think English got the Latin term via Germany (essen). The English-
latinate term for edible is comestible.
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The SOED gives
edible as coming from late Latin
edibilis. Seeing that both English
eat and German
essen both derive from Latin
edere I can't see any Anglo-Saxon alternative. Clearly, the Normans were the only ones who could afford to eat (hence French names for the meat of animals with Anglo-Saxon names).