great entry!
m | 02.03.06 - 4:44 am | #

I always assumed that it meant "little" or inferior (Latin parvus). That is, it referred to things like bread that had not been improved with dairy or animal fats.

Has this possibility been considered, and if so why was it rejected?
Joe in Australia | 02.05.06 - 12:37 am | #

That the source of parve is the Latin parvus is a commonly held opinion. Gold's opinion is based on linguistic analysis of stressed syllables, suffixes and certain Yiddish forms, much of which was sometimes difficult for the non-linguist to understand.
Menachem Mendel | Homepage | 02.05.06 - 10:25 am | #

Do we know what the first usage of parve to mean what it currently does is? As you point out, in early Rabbinic literature it is not used, so when did it start. Is it found among sefardim or those who would not speak Check or Latin?
Dan Rabinowitz | Homepage | 02.06.06 - 1:10 pm | #

Additionally, could the word come from its original meaning "animal skins?" Ben Yehuda (HaTzvi Heshvan 188 notes that this is the most likely meaning of the worm פרוה animal skins. He also connects it to the arabic (I don't profess any knowledge here just quoting) which uses parve to refer to a the skin on ones head. As animals skin are really neutral they are considered parve or פרוה.
Dan Rabinowitz | Homepage | 02.06.06 - 1:39 pm | #