soup the most general of the terms which apply to liquid savoury dishes, sometimes classified as ‘spoonmeats’, embraces broth, consommé, bisque, potage, etc. According to Ayto (1993), the word is derived from the same prehistoric German root which produced English sup and supper. From that root came a noun, suppa, which passed into Old French as soupe. This meant both ‘piece of bread soaked in liquid’ and, by extension, ‘broth poured onto bread’. The word, with the latter meaning, entered English in the 17th century, joining the term ‘sop’, which had already arrived separately and was well established as meaning the bit of bread that was soaked. Similar terms in other languages include the Italian zuppa, the German Suppe, Danish suppe, etc.
