

The majority of mammalian game needs to be prepared quickly after death. 'Umble' seems to be a Norman French word derived from the Latin 'lumb' meaning 'loins', whereas 'humble' comes from 'humilem', meaning 'lowly' The similarity of the sound of the words, and the fact that umble pie was often eaten by the poor or humble people in society could easily have been the reason for to 'eat humble pie' to have acquired its current colloquial meaning, rather than its lowly origins. The word humble, is normally applied to a person of ‘lowly position in society' or an expression of ‘self-deprecation’ and has a totally unconnected derivation from the word umbles.

'A numble pie' could easily have become ‘an umble pie' and the act of transformation of similar words is referred to as metanalysis and commonly occurs in the English language. It is possible that it was the pies that caused the transition from numbles to umbles. "Mrs Turner came in and did bring us an Umble-pie hot out of her oven, extraordinarily good." "I having some venison given me a day or two ago, and so I had a shoulder roasted, another baked, and the umbles baked in a pie, and all very well done." Samuel Pepys, the well-known writer and gourmet, makes many references to such pies in his diary for example, on 5th July 1662 he wrote: Umbles were used as the basic protein ingredient in pies for the lower classes, although the first record of 'umble pie' in print is as late as the 17th century. There were a great many references to all words in Old and Middle English publications from 1330 onward. Later in the 15th century these cuts had adopted the casual overall term of umbles, although all of the words continued to be used in various district locations for some time.

of animals, especially of deer, these cuts are now referred to as offal or lights and are rarely available for general sale, except through game butchers. The British are well known for their liking for offal, cooked in a variety of ways, particularly liver, kidneys and heart, but the ingredients of Humble Pie brings this to a whole new level.ĭuring the 14th century, the numbles (or noumbles, nomblys, noubles) was the name generally given to the heart, liver, intestines, entrails etc. The unpalatability of crow cooked in this way is not difficult to imagine, but what about humble pie? From the mid-19 th century, in the USA, anyone who had occasion to 'eat his words' by humiliatingly accepting and publically stating they were wrong, would be said to 'eat crow' (originally to 'eat boiled crow'). Send us feedback.Returning for a moment to the expression, various nations had different interpretations of the words and in many cases it meant to eat something unpleasant by means of a penance or punishment. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'humble pie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2021 The exacting standards of these pizzaioli are responsible for changing the perception of the fare from a humble pie into a deeply respected cuisine.įrancesco Lastrucci, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Feb. 2021 His analysis was carefully mixed with a touch of special pleading and a large slice of humble pie. Nick Moyle, San Antonio Express-News, 19 Sep. 2021 Coach Steve Sarkisian admitted Arkansas served up a heaping slice of humble pie to Texas last weekend. 2021 The Razorbacks and Rebels scarfed down some humble pie last week. Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 14 June 2022 But the players who don't back it up and ultimately lose eat the biggest slice of humble pie.ĭana Scott, The Arizona Republic, What better place than the Bengals' home of Paul Brown Stadium to give Joe Burrow a serving of humble pie?ĭave Clark, The Enquirer, For all those who for so many years were skeptical about the idea of a luxury prestige brand such as Rolls-Royce ever getting into the SUV game, the Cullinan represents a rather large slice of humble pie.
#Humble pie desserts series
Recent Examples on the Web But as cryptocurrency markets crumble beneath an unstable global economy and a series of embarrassing episodes, the sector could benefit from a nice slice of humble pie.
