In the olden days, bread used to be meat.
>The word sweetbread is first attested in the 16th century, but the etymology of the name is unclear. Sweet is perhaps used since the thymus is sweet and rich-tasting, as opposed to savory-tasting muscle flesh. Bread may come from Middle English brede, meaning "roast meat"
Sweetbread is a culinary name for the thymus or pancreas, typically from calf or lamb.

>>21425467 (OP)
Are there any other thymus based dishes?

>>21426069
Smegma icecream.

>>21425467 (OP)
>Bread may come from Middle English brede, meaning "roast meat"
AI Overview:
That is an interesting idea! While the word "bread" does not generally come from Middle English "brede" meaning "roast meat", the Middle English word "brede"
did have the meaning "roast meat".
Here's why it's understandable how you might think that:

Confusion with "sweetbread" etymology: The word "sweetbread," which refers to edible glands like the thymus or pancreas, may have a connection to the Middle English word "brede" meaning "roast meat". Some sources suggest that the "bread" part of "sweetbread" could be a corruption of this word.

However, the word "bread" itself has a different etymology:

Origin in Old English and Germanic: The word "bread" comes from the Old English word "brēad," meaning "fragment, bit, morsel, crumb," which also came to mean "bread". This word has roots in Proto-Germanic and possibly Proto-Indo-European words related to "cooked food" or "fragment".
Replacing "hlaf": Before about 1200 A.D., the common Old English word for bread was "hlaf," which is related to the modern word "loaf". The word "bread" replaced "hlaf" as the more general term.

In summary, while the Middle English word "brede" did have the meaning of "roast meat," it's not the origin of the word "bread." The etymology of "bread" traces back to Old English and Germanic roots related to fragments or cooked food, and it replaced the earlier word "hlaf".