Sop

For other uses, see SOP (disambiguation).

A sop is a piece of bread or toast that is soaked in liquid food and then eaten. In medieval cuisine, sops were very common. Sops were served with wine, soup or broth, and then picked apart into smaller pieces to soak in the liquid. At elaborate feasts, bread was often pre-cut into finger-sized pieces rather than broken off by the diners themselves. French onion soup, originating in its current form in the 18th century, can be considered a modern-day sop.

The word "soup" is a cognate of "sop", both stemming ultimately from the same Germanic source. The word is mentioned prominently in the Bible, King James Version:

When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a SOP, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the SOP, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ( John 13:21-26 )

Expressions

The expression "milksop" describes a person as weak and indecisive, as in "you milksop," meaning "you wimp".

References

• Adamson, Melitta Weiss (2004) Food in Medieval Times ISBN 0-313-32147-7

External links

Look up SOP, sop, sippet, or Wiktionary:Glossary#S in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.