# Origin of "Munchies" = Mange?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 21, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783 "2010-01-21T02:14:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/1 "2010-01-21T02:14:08Z")
Many European languages use the verb “mange”, “manga”, or “mangez” (pronounced manj, manja, and manjay respectively) to mean “eat”. I was wondering if the name for snacks (i.e., “munchies”) might be a slurred pronunciation from these Latin languages. Any factual answers?
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/2 "2010-01-21T02:40:56Z")
Doesn’t seem to have a definite etymology, but your conjecture has been made before:
[http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=munch&ia=etymon](http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=munch&ia=etymon)
> [@](#):
>
> **munch** (v.)
>
> c.1374, _mocchen_, imitative (cf. _crunch_), or **perhaps from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). _mangier_**, from L. _manducare_ “to chew.” …
>
> Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/3 "2010-01-21T02:46:48Z")
From the OED:
> [@OED](#):
>
> [Apparently imitative (compare CRAUNCH v., CRUNCH v.), perhaps partly suggested by Anglo-Norman and Middle French manger MAUNGE v. (compare the Anglo-Norman variant mancher). Compare earlier MAUNGE v., and also MUNGE v.2, MOUCH v.
> Compare the English regional verb manch (and variants maunce, mansh, mench, etc.) recorded by Eng. Dial. Dict. in the midlands in sense ‘to mince, mash, bruise, crush to a pulp, beat up’ (compare forms s.v. MINCE v.); some forms suggest possible confusion between this word and munch.]
“Munchie” has both a UK and a US derivation. The UK had a candy bar named “Munchies,” with OED cites from 1917. The US version dates from the 1970s (“1971 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) Winter 8 Munchies, snacks to eat after smoking marijuana”), but it’s unclear whether it is derived from a British stoner or independently.
FWIW, I first came across the term in the context of smoking pot and getting the munchies. This was around 1970.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/4 "2010-01-21T19:19:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> The UK had a candy bar named “Munchies,” with OED cites from 1917.
Not a candy bar as such, but bite-size chocolates with a biscuit and caramel filling. And they still make them, although if [this review](http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/nestle-munchies/) is to be believed, they’re not as good as they used to be.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/5 "2010-01-22T18:38:14Z")
I was born in Omaha, NE.
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### Author:  [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/6 "2010-01-22T23:02:31Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> I was born in Omaha, NE.
LOL. Case closed…next question?
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/7 "2010-01-23T03:35:41Z")
“Munchies” derives from the French “_Man Chaise_” (Man Chair). It is so named because as people relax in their favorite La-z-boy recliner and “Couch Out” to TV or a book or music, they often require snacks (which, btw, comes from the German _Schnacken_)…
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/8 "2010-01-23T18:01:29Z")
Why look for complex answers involving distorted pronunciations of foreign words? Even though we have no definitive answer, Occam’s Razor would say that munchies probably derived from the English word “munch.”
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-munchies-mange/525783/9 "2010-01-23T22:20:48Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> I was born in Omaha, NE.
Not Løten, Norway?: [Edvard Munch - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Munch)