Soup
Soups have been part of our diet since the Prehistoric times. However, the word we use nowadays is quite modern. The Latin term suppa, which referred to a slice of bread soaked in broth or a liquid mixture, was borrowed from a Germanic source. Same source as the word “sop”, a piece of bread used to soak up soup or a thick stew, and “supper”, dinner.
A term originally from Latin is minestra and ministornes, the Italian terms along with zuppa. they both come from the verb ministrāre “to serve”.
Only a handful of languages uses their own term, but they are very interesting cases: Slovenes & Croats eat “juha” an ancient word, inherited from Proto-Slavic juxa, but lost in other Slavic languages and replaced by the Germanic term. Exceptionally, in Czech & Slovak cuisine has polévka & polievka, from the verb polévat “to pour”.
In the East, Turkish, Arabs, Kazakhs, and other peoples share a common Persian term: شوربا (šurbâ). Despite the apparent similarities with soup, they are not cognates. In the Balkans, this word is known and used to refer to their traditional soups.
Dessert
Dessert is one of those international words you’ll find across many languages—and it’s shared in meaning even when the food itself varies. Like many culinary terms, its roots trace back to French. The verb desservir referred to something like the removal of plates after a meal—pretty specific, right? Even when some languages don’t use the French word directly, they often keep the idea of “something served after.” For example, Finnish jälkiruoka literally means “after food,” and Greek επιδόρπιο (epidórpio) refers to “after the meal.” Other languages focus on the sweet side of the experience: dessert isn’t just “what comes after,” it’s also about ending on sweetness, that helps you finish digestion and leave feeling satisfied. That’s reflected in Turkish tatlı and Slovenian sladica.
