I found out something amusing today that means I will never look at lasagne in quite the same way. I've never really thought about the word before, but apparently it comes from the latin word lasanum, meaning "a pot," which in turn derives from the Greek lasanon "pot with feet, trivet." So far so good, until you know that the plural lasana also means (according to Liddell & Scott) a chamber pot. The Latin word lasanum can be found in Petronius 41.9 - "Ab hoc ferculo Trimalchio ad lasanum surrexit - after this course Trimalchio got up and went to the toilet".

Next time I go to an Italian restaurant I shall order pizza unless I can see exactly what the lasagne has been cooked in.

(Yes, you may have read this before. I moved it here from my journal where it didn't really belong amongst the quizz scores.)