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cups and bowls - rick's majorly cool foray...

updated sun 29 feb 04

 

pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on sat 28 feb 04


Hi Rick,



Nice foray!


What fun...


Although I think 'cuppa' still survives...as in England and
some of Canada anyway, I suppose from the old Roman, as
"..'ave a cuppa Taye?"


(...which I shall now do I think...thence to bed...sleepy!)



Phil
Las Vegas


----- Original Message -----
From:



> From 1750 to 1855,here in America, a handled bowl called a
porringer was mentioned in many historical potters'
accounts. Prior to 1820 these were made wide and shallow;
afterwards, deeper with a rim rolling outwards. Most folks
know the big version as a chowder bowl, but I have seen them
made in many sizes. Webster's Dict describes a cup a Middle
and Old English from the Latin Cuppa. Cupa in latin means
tub. Bowl has no Latin origin,it is derived from Middle
english, bolle and Old English, bolla. Porringer is french
in origin and is defined as a soup dish.
> At times this shallow bowl would have attached a
horizontal handle, like a tab, and this would then become a
bleeding cup.
> Yet, small bowls were also used in this time as "drinking
dishes" for tea. Such as "having a dish of tea". Several
paintings and prints show such usage.
> (Don't confuse this with the custom of drinking tea out of
a saucer-another subject.
> In Chinese pottery, the bowl or wan is found in many sizes
or shapes. The rice bowl is kung wan. A shallower bowl is
t'ang wan and is used for soup. The tea bowl, ch'a wan is
covered. When the teapot was introduced after teh Ming
dynasty, you then have the need for the tea cup or ch'a pei.
Cup is not of Chinese origin. The French Jesuits brought
these items to Europe, but what did they call them?
Porringer? A bowl is cuvette and cup is tasse. Not common
use words in America or England. Mug is chope in French. I
don't recall the use of Mug in early American pottery
listings. Mug is Scandavanian, originally decorated with a
human face. ("What an ugly Mug" now has two meanings!).
>
> Now, how do the Romans, the French Jesuits on the Yellow
River in China and the English influence language and the
use or disuse of a particular name and when? There is your
answer.
> Gotta go---
>
>
> Rick
>
>
> --
> "Many a wiser men than I hath
> gone to pot." 1649