WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: soul food, n.

soul food, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈsəʊl ˌfuːd/,  U.S. /ˈsoʊl ˌfud/

Forms: see soul n. and food n.

Etymology: <  soul n. + food n. Probably originally reflecting a genitive compound with unmarked first element (see discussion at soul n.).

Compare also the following early Middle English examples of the corresponding compound with marked genitive in the first element (both singular and plural); compare discussion at soul n.:

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11676 Þin egginng iss off flæshess lusst. & nohht off sawless fode.

a1300  in  R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 91 We wyþ sunnes geteþ saulene fode.

1.  fig. Food for the soul; spiritual nourishment.

[OE  Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxv. 233 Hlaf is ðæs lichaman bigleofa, and lar is ðære sawle foda.]

OE  tr.  Theodulf of Orleans Capitula (Bodl.) xxxii. 363 Se þe eornostlice gesihð þæt he sylf Crist næfð, þe cwæð, ‘Ic eom hlaf lifiende..’, & soðe lufe, seo is saule foda [OE Corpus Cambr. sawle fostor; L. pastus animae], næfð, se hingreð witodlice.

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 958 Summ whatt icc habbe shæwedd ȝuw. Till ȝure sawle fode.

a1225 (1200) MS Trin. Cambr. in  R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 27 On is þe mete þe þe lichame..biliueð; Ðat oðer is godes word þat is þe sowle fode.

c1325  in  K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 23 Iesu, for loue þou stehe on rode..Loue þou madest oure soule fode.

a1500 (1340)  R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) cvi. §10. 381 In nede of saule fode.

1612  T. Wilson Christian Dict. 310 Christ is called Manna, because he is the bread that came downe from heauen, the onely soule-food.

1701  B. Keach Gospel Myst Unveil’d I. xxxiv. 198/2 Riches suit not the state of their Souls, it cannot answer nor supply Soul-wants, nor raise their Souls to Honour; 'twill not buy Soul-Food nor Soul-Raiment.

1838  J Pring Second Series of Kingdom Serm. 329 Supposing Christ to be the true bread of life,..or soul-food as aforesaid.

1896  G. D. Watson  (title) Soul Food: being chapters on the interior life with passages of personal experience.

1904  G. Ade True Bills 68 She asked him..what amount he spent on Clothes and Finery as compared with his Outlay for Soul-Food.

1920  W. R. Lethaby in London Mercury Mar. 575 The history that can be seen and touched is a strong and stimulating soul-food, entirely different from vague and wearying written history.

1999  S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) xvi. 483 A recently ordained woman priest..deducing that the Vina phenomenon reveals the world's spiritual hunger, its need for soul food.

 2.  orig. U.S. Food prepared in a style originating in the rural southern United States and traditionally associated with African Americans. Cf. soul n. 3c.

Often with overtones of sense 1, such food being closely associated with family and community life and hence with emotional and spiritual comfort.

1960 Los Angeles Sentinel 29 Dec. a15 Claims he can't eat the ‘soul’ food like Ham and Grits.

1967  ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp (1998) iv. 56 After a week of rest and Mama's soulfood, my color and strength came back.

1972  L. Reed Walk on Wild Side (song)in Pass thru Fire (2000) 125 Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets Lookin' for soul food and a place to eat.

1994  P. Baker Blood Posse x. 113 The smell of hog maws, collard greens, and soul food crept from behind apartment doors.

2005  Z. Smith On Beauty 68 We're gonna have like a shin-dig, nothing much, some Marvin Gaye, some soul-food—you know, very mellow.

Compounds
 
  General attrib., as soul food dinner, soul food grocery, soul food restaurant, etc.

1961 Pittsburgh Courier 24 June 21 Combo leader Bill Doggett had to decline the tempting ‘soul food’ dinner.

1975 Amer. Speech 1969 44 91 A few drugstores, ‘rib-joints’, snack bars, and a couple of ‘soul food’ places.

1978 Broadcast's Programme Edinb. TV Festival 8/3 The social centre of the series is a soul-food grocery owned by a West Indian entrepreneur.

1990 Sports Illustr. 23 July 36/3 A building that once housed a soul-food restaurant.

1994 Denver Post 30 Jan. f8/4 She offers some reconfigured ‘Soul Food’ recipes.

2000  P. Johnson  & C. O'Brien World Food: New Orleans 12 The common configuration for a typical Southern country-style or Soul Food meal is the ‘meat and three’ [sc. vegetables].

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