1650: picnic Jun 21, 2019
The word ‘picnic’ has undergone a number of changes over the
centuries, both in what is means, and how it appeared. In early printed works
containing this word, it referred not to people eating outside, as it usually
does today, but a restaurant meal to which people brought their own wine: a ‘BYOB’
of the 17th century in some ways. It also was at one time synonymous
with what we might call a ‘potluck’ today; many linguists believe that the ‘pic-‘
was in reference to picking things out. It only gained the connotations to the
outdoors after the French revolution (then spelt ‘pique-nique), when the
once-private public parks became open. The latter used to be believed to come
from ‘nique’ meaning ‘unimportant (thing)’, but most now believe it came from ‘niche’
(‘to place’), and changed over time to rhyme with ‘pique’, evidence by the
phrase “pique une niche” (“pick a place”).
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