mawmenny

M3A1W4M3E1N1N1Y4
/ˈmɔːməni/

noun

A dish eaten in later medieval England, made with spice and almost always with boneless meat from poultry (usually teased or mashed; most recipes name capon as an option), usually containing wine and either sugar or honey.

OriginMiddle English mawmene ← Anglo-Norman maumenee ← Arabic مأمونية →
Scrabble 18
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Meanings

nounmawmenny (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountableA dish eaten in later medieval England, made with spice and almost always with boneless meat from poultry (usually teased or mashed; most recipes name capon as an option), usually containing wine and either sugar or honey.

    What is "different" here is the absence of the more elaborate aristocratic favorites of earlier times. such as Mawmenny.

    2002, Constance B. Hieatt, “Medieval Britain”, in Melitta Weiss Adamson, editor, Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe: A Book of Essays, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 38
    2 more examples

    […]a remark certainly borne out by Wynnere's list, which includes: wild geese, bitterns, snipe, larks, linnets (sprinkled with sugar!), woodcock, woodpecker, teal, and titmice, the meal to be rounded off with rabbits, pasties, pies, mawmenny and custard pies!

    2000, “"Of Fish and Flesh and Tender Breede Of Win both White and Reede": Eating and Drinking in Middle English Narrative Texts”, in Patricia Shaw, Obra Reunida de Patricia Shaw, Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo, page 78

    There was no fixed order for the different sweet potages, however: one finds mawmenny at least once at every course, and the other types are also placed randomly.

    2003, Gilly Lehmann, “The Late Medieval Menu in England - A Reappraisal”, in Food and History: Revue de l'Institut Européen d'Histoire de l'Alimentation, volume 1, Brepols, →DOI, Medieval Britain

Origin

  1. Arabicمأمونية
  2. Anglo-Normanmaumenee
  3. Middle Englishmawmene
  4. Englishmawmenny

Borrowed from Middle English mawmene, from Anglo-Norman maumenee, an alteration of Arabic مأمونية (maʔmūniyya) after malmener, maumener (“to mistreat”).

More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Arabic

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

mawmenny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mawmenny

MLA

“mawmenny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mawmenny. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mawmenny,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mawmenny.

Source: mawmenny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.