"What is the history of the word "donut" (doughnut)?

Leading Answer
Only two ETNIers sent in replies to this challenge this time.
Thus it is difficult to definitely decide on a leading answer.
So we leave it to you to read the answers and decide.

Answers from ETNIers

Bari Nirenberg b_nirenberg@yahoo.com

Fried cakes (doughnuts) have apparently been in existence since as early as the 5th millenium BCE and were eaten by the ancient Egyptians ( http://www.mmmdoughnuts.fsnet.co.uk/facts.htm). In Holland and Germany, cooks would get rid of their leftover bread dough by dropping it in hot oil. The Dutch decided to make them a bit fancier, so they tied them into knots, and thus the word "doughnut" (from "dough-knot") came into existence( http://id.essortment.com/doughnuthistory_rgjt.htm). The word was first used in English in around 1809 ( http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=doughnut).

The doughnut with a hole was first invented in 1847 by American sea captain Hanson Crocket Gregory. Legend has it that he had his cook make fried cakes for him and because he had difficulty holding the ship's wheel and his cake at the same time, he put the doughnut on one of the spokes of his wheel for safe-keeping (obviously poking a hole in it). The more likely explanation for the hole, however, is that the center of these fried cakes was often uncooked, so it seemed sensible to just remove the center. It is possible that in his travels, Gregory came across the German "jumble", a cake with a hole in the middle, and that he took this idea with him back to America. ( http://id.essortment.com/doughnuthistory_rgjt.htm)

sources:

Merriam-Webster Online
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=doughnut

The History of Food http://inventors.about.com/science/inventors/library/inventors/blpotatochip.htm

Mmm Doughnuts -- The History of the Doughnut http://www.mmmdoughnuts.fsnet.co.uk/sitemap.htm

A short history of doughnuts http://id.essortment.com/doughnuthistory_rgjt.htm

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Devorah Beth dvora@amiad.org.il

Here are my results, one is obviously a satire, but all three hold some convincing facts:

1. http://www.salarmychicago.org/donut_day_history.htm tells the story of the lassies from the Salvation Army who fried doughnuts to give to the soldiers at Montiers in August 1917 during the WWI. They used left over flour and other ingredients they had “ on hand” and a baking powder tin for a cutter and a camphor ice stick to make the holes, they fried seven at a time in a soldier’s tin helmet. Later a 7 lb shell was used for frying with a 1lb shell to make the holes. They served 9000 doughnuts that day.
   Others heard about these wonderful doughnuts and ask for them. Pilots even dropped leaflets out of their planes asking for them. The returning “doughboys” boys, as American infantry men were called, hankered after the taste and bakeries began to respond. Now does this mean these fried cakes were named after the doughboys? My time was limited and I have not yet found out!

2. http://www.id.assessment.com/doughnuthistory-rgit.htm.
   In England people used left over dough for dumplings in the soup. In Holland and Germany they used the dough to fry cakes in boiling oil (oile-koechen).
   The Dutch shaped them into decorative knots and then added some sugar.
   The Puritans who came to Holland enjoyed them so much that they brought them to the New World. How the doughnut changed from its original diamond shape is explained as follows: in Germany there were already cookies with a hole in the middle (a jumble) because they were similar to a two-finger ring which was called a gimbel. Americans, especially in the Maine adopted them and they claim that Mason Crocett Gregory introduced the hole in 1847.
   This story sounds authentic but does not account for the name except that the doughnut was made out of left-over dough. The third story though, tells us about the nuts.

3. http://www.elliskaiser.com/doughnuts/history
   In colonial times, Dutch settlers arrived on American soil seeking freedom from strictly enforced writs on Pastry. These were enforced because a cow had kicked over a giant fryer (cooking doughnuts presumably) which caused a fire in Strudeldorf. The Dutch continued with their passion for fried cakes which were difficult to fry and often left a gooey doughy center.
   In 1847 a young man called Hanson arrived on the scene who had seen his mother fill the hole with walnuts or hazelnuts to hide the hole.
   One day an angel appeared with a plate of cakes dripping with oil, "You must reveal the true nature of these cakes", the angel told Hanson. When he looked closely he discovered that the cakes were hole –y. He gave them out to all the people and they agreed that they were the best fried cakes they had ever tasted. They sang and danced for days before they burned him for witchcraft.

Well at least we get the reason for the hole and the nuts and date of the doughnut origin - 1847.

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