Food Words: Egg and Yolk

Egg comes from an Indo-European root meaning "bird."

The brusque-sounding yolk is rich in overtones of light and life. It comes from the Old English for "yellow," whose Greek cousin meant "yellow-green," the color of new plant growth. Both the Old English and the Greek derive ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning "to gleam, to glimmer." The same root gave us glow and gold.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen