simnel Now arch. or local.
(ˈsɪmnəl)
Forms: 3–4 simenel(l, 5 syme-, symynel; 5–6 symnelle (5 -nylle), 5–7 -nell, 5–9 -nel; 6–7 simnell, 6– simnel; 5 cymnel, 7 -nell, 7–8 cimnel(l.
[a. OF. simenel, seminel, etc. (mod.F. dial. simnel), app. related in some way to L. simila or Gr. σεµίδᾱλις fine flour.
Med.L. simen-, siminellus, is merely an adaptation of the OF. or ME. word. L. simila is the direct source of OHG. simela, semala, etc. (MHG. simele, semele, G. semmel, with corresponding forms in LG., Du., Da., and Sw).]
1. A kind of bread or bun made of fine flour and prepared by boiling, sometimes with subsequent baking. Now chiefly Hist.
| 12.. Liber de situ Ecclesiæ Belli in Dugdale Monast. (1821) III. 242 Constituens..panem regiæ mensæ aptum, qui simenel vulgo vocatur, habere pondere lx solidorum. c 1290 Fleta ii. ix. §1 Panis..de Symenel [ponderabit] minus Wastello de ij s[olidis], quia bis coctus erit. c 1300 Munim. Gildhallæ (Rolls) III. 411 Item, panis artocopi (i. simenel) ponderabit minus wastello per duos solidos. |
| c 1300 Havelok 779 For hom he brouthe fele siþe Wastels, simenels with þe horn. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 565 Artocopus, a symynel. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 77 Cymnel, brede, artocopus. 1464 in Anstey Munim. Acad. (Rolls) II. 710 Panes vulgariter nuncupatos ‘Wygges’ et ‘Symnelles’. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xvi. 19 Thou didest eate nothinge but symnels, honny & oyle. 1584 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 26 Cakes of all formes, Simnels, Cracknels, Buns, Wafers, and other things made of wheat flowre. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 663 Cakes tempered with oyle in the frying pan, and wafers boyled in water..like vnto our simnels. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 237 Others sod it [bread] in seam like fritters; others boild it in water like cimnels. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v., Having provided Simnels made of Water according to the size of your Dish, cut 'em in Halves as it were an Orange. 1783 Gentl. Mag. LIII. ii. 578 Some things customary probably refer simply..to the idea of feasting... Of these, perhaps, are..cross-buns, saffron cakes, or symnels, in Passion week.., these being formerly at least unleavened. 1854 N. & Q. 1st Ser. X. 393 Simnel. In the island of Jersey the name is still applied to a kind of thin biscuit made of the finest wheaten flour and water. |
b. A rich currant cake, usually eaten on Mid-Lent Sunday in certain districts.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Dianeme, Ile to thee a Simnell bring, 'Gainst thou go'st a mothering. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 293/2 A Simnell, is a thick copped Cake, or Loaf made of white Bread, Knodden up with Saffron and Currans. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Simnel, a plumb-cake having a raised crust for the exterior. 1851 N. & Q. 1st Ser. III. 506 A rich sort of cake, consisting of a thick crust of saffron-bread filled with currants, citron, and all the usual ingredients of wedding-cake, which is called a simnel. 1872 Hardwick Trad. Lanc. 76 The ‘simnels’ eaten on Mid-Lent, or ‘Mothering’ Sunday. |
c. attrib., as
simnel bread,
simnel-cake;
Simnel-Sunday, Mid-Lent, or Mothering Sunday. Also
simnel-wise adj.| 1674 Blount, Simnel-bread,..bread made of fine meal of corn. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 134 A Noble Cake, made Simnel-wise. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Bread, We also meet with symnel bread manchet or roll bread, and French bread. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xiv, A quantity of rich pastry, as well as of the simnel-bread and wastle cakes. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life vi. xvi. (1862) 590 In Lancashire and Cheshire they still eat Simnel-cake on Mid-lent Sunday. 1863 Chambers Bk. of Days I. 336/1 A sort of rich and expensive cakes, which are called Simnel-cakes. |
2. U.S. A variety of squash.
Cf. simlin 1.
| 1648 B. Plantagenet Descr. New Albion 25 Strawberries, Mulberries, Symnels, Maycocks and Horns like Cucumbers. 1705 R. Beverley Virginia ii. §19 (1722) 124 The Clypeatæ are sometimes call'd Cymnels (as are some others also), from the Lenten Cake of that Name, which many of them very much resemble. |