bannock

See also: Bannock

English

traditional beremeal bannock as made on Orkney, Scotland

Alternative forms

• bannik

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin pānicumder.

Old Irish bannachder.

Old English bannuc

Middle English bannoke

English bannock

From Middle English bannoke, from Old English bannuc, perhaps from a Goidelic word (compare Irish bonnóg, Manx bonnag, Scottish Gaelic bonnach), possibly from Latin pānicum (“millet”). Doublet of bonnag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæ.nək/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Noun

bannock (usually uncountable, plural bannocks)

1. (especially Scotland, Northern England) An unleavened bread, usually made with barleymeal, wheatmeal, or oatmeal; sometimes of peasemeal or otherwise.
   • 1894, Joseph Jacobs, “More English Fairy Tales”, in The Wee Bannock, D. Nutt:

     So she baked two oatmeal bannocks, and set them on to the fire to harden. After a while, the old man came in, and sat down beside the fire, and takes one of the bannocks, and snaps it through the middle.

2. (Canada) A biscuit bread made of wheat flour or cornmeal, fat, and sometimes baking powder, typically baked over a fire, wrapped around a stick or in a pan.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 8, in Klee Wyck‎^[1]:

     “The boats are coming!” The cry rang through the village. Women left their bannock-baking, their basketweaving and hurried to the shore.

   • 2007, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Turtle Valley, Vintage Canada, →ISBN, page 54:

     My father’s bannock was nothing but lard, flour, salt, and baking powder patted into big rounds and cooked on sticks over a campfire.

   1. (specifically) This or any similar traditional bread when made by indigenous Americans, originally from native sources such as maize or pseudocereals and plants with starchy roots

      Synonyms: Indian bread, alatiq, skaan

Derived terms

• currant-bannock
• bannock puncher

Related terms

• frybread, dog bread (US terms for specific breads which would all be called bannock in Canada)

Translations

English/Scottish bread

• French: bannique (fr) f
• Scottish Gaelic: bonnach m, breacag f

Indigenous Canadian breads

• Cree:

  Atikamekw: e ocihakaniwitc pakwecikan

  Plains Cree: pahkwêsikan

• French: beigne (fr) m pl, galette (fr)

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