olio

[prettygoodword]

olio (OH-lee-oh) - n., a dish of many ingredients, esp. olla podrida, a thick, Spanish stew of meat and vegetables; mixture or medley, a hodgepodge; a miscellaneous collection (as of literary or musical selections); musical entertainment presented between the acts of a burlesque or minstrel show (often performed downstage while the upstage set is changed).


All those senses (including a couple other theatrical ones) all come from the Spanish stew -- and the word itself is an alteration of olla, pot (as well as the stew made in it), from Latin olla pot/jar. Adopted into English around 1640.

And that completes the week of four-letter words -- back to the usual olio next week.

---L.

Comments

[med_cat]

Hee hee, Feuchtwanger mentions the olla podrida at length in his novel "Goya" ;)

"Back to the usual olio"--you're funny ;)