What’s the origin of “potluck”?
(Bolding mine.) Hey, I said that!
Unfortunately, it’s not a searchable string.
Maybe instead of guessing the answer, someone could have looked up “potluck” in An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, Klein’s A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, or maybe even Oxford English Dictionary
milquetoast found my reply from last November:
Just to mention that in french, a “pot au feu” normally refers to a specific dish (a kind of beef stew), not to random leftovers.
However, you can eat “a la fortune du pot”, with litterally and figurately the same meaning than the english “potluck”. (what happens to be, by chance, in the pot).
Wait, does feu mean luck? I thought it meant fire. Is this a word with double meaning?
Nope. “feu” only means fire (and some unrelated other things : “late” as in “my late father”).
It’s “a la fortune du pot” which has the same meaning than “potluck”.
If people did just the minimal atom of their own research Cecil would never have had a column. The Straight Dope depends on people being so lazy that they will put up with his abuse rather than read a book. Or a part of a book–nobody is asking them to read the entire OED, just the part about “potluck.”
Being St. Patrick’s Day, I was searching the web for [Irish Soda Bread] and wandered across a reference (on an Irish website : Mayo on the Move ) to “pot luck” being associated with (specifically) a 3-LEGGED IRON POT.
To quote: The three-legged iron pot is the origin of the term to make “Pot luck”. In country districts it is used for roasting, stewing and for making cakes and bread. In Counties Limerick and Cork it is also called a Bastable oven, and the bread made in it a “Bastable Cake”. Glowing turf (peat) sods are put on top when baking or roasting is being done to ensure even heat. The pot can be raised or lowered by a chain, and three short feet enable it to stand at the side of the hearth.