Talk:Marmite

Quotations

Quotations which turned up on RFV:

• 1917: Robert Hutchison, Food and the principles of dietetics, page 98

  Recently, extracts prepared from yeast have been introduced as substitutes for ordinary meat extracts. A good example of these is the preparation known as Marmite, which has the following composition [...]

• 1919 (?): Lawrence J. Weidmann, The Battle of Bourges, page 92

  Two girls were on the night stretch and three on each of the others, one making sandwiches, one acting as cashier, and the third, called the marmite girl, [...]

• 1940: the Indian Council of Medical Research, The Indian Journal of Medical Research, pages 377–378

  In this group there were 3 cases which showed only extensive scrotal involvement that cleared up completely after Marmite was given for 3 weeks. [... In another case,] the dose of Marmite was not doubled as was done in the other cases, where the desired result was not obtained.

• 1963: Donald Stewart McLaren, Malnutrition and the eye, page 261

  Calcium, phosphorus, and nicotinic acid were not of value but Marmite gave slight improvement in all cases who received it.

• 1997, Bessie Head, Maru, page 81 or 87

  Moleka's kisses taste like Marmite sandwiches. Moleka's kisses taste like roast beef with spicy gravy.

• 2007, Annette Laing, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, Confusion Press, page 28

  Brandon, hungry, decided he would prefer something savory, and was offered a choice of sardines on toast or Marmite sandwich. [...] Brandon didn't know what a Marmite sandwich might be, but it sounded better than crunchy eyeball fish, [...]

• 2008: Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop, December, page 197

  "Do you like Marmite, Belle?" Isabelle pauses to inspect the brown stuff now on her knife. She has never had Marmite before, and it smells terrible [...]

NB, find examples of 'Marmite kiss[es]' in usenet. — Beobach972 19:39, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

— Beobach972 07:08, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

RFV archive

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process.

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

---

Marmite

This should be attestable in attributive use. DCDuring TALK 13:53, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

A look on Google books suggests that marmite (ie, minuscule) can also be used to mean the yeast spread. Does that seem right? — Beobach972 02:18, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't surprise me. But I am fairly sure that the upper-case brand name preceded the lower case for the yeast stuff. The brand name is apparently derived from the container it was sold in which resembled the French marmite (“a covered pot, usually earthenware”). If "Marmite" can't be cited in attributive use, we can still have the lower-case entry and include the brand name in the etymology. DCDuring TALK 02:54, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

There seems to be a medically-useful substance called Marmite, but I'm not sure whether it's the yeast spread or not. It seems to be. Take a look:

• 1940: the Indian Council of Medical Research, The Indian Journal of Medical Research, pages 377–378

  In this group there were 3 cases which showed only extensive scrotal involvement that cleared up completely after Marmite was given for 3 weeks. [... In another case,] the dose of Marmite was not doubled as was done in the other cases, where the desired result was not obtained.

• 1963: Donald Stewart McLaren, Malnutrition and the eye, page 261

  Calcium, phosphorus, and nicotinic acid were not of value but Marmite gave slight improvement in all cases who received it.

(The 1963 one is also an interesting use of 'who'.) — Beobach972 15:22, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

• 1917: Robert Hutchison, Food and the principles of dietetics, page 98

  Recently, extracts prepared from yeast have been introduced as substitutes for ordinary meat extracts. A good example of these is the preparation known as Marmite, which has the following composition [...]

• 1997, Bessie Head, Maru, page 81 or 87

  Moleka's kisses taste like Marmite sandwiches. Moleka's kisses taste like roast beef with spicy gravy.

• 2008: Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop, December, page 197

  "Do you like Marmite, Belle?" Isabelle pauses to inspect the brown stuff now on her knife. She has never had Marmite before, and it smells terrible [...]

— Beobach972 15:39, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I think only the "Marmite sandwich" case fits the attributive use criterion, but I'm not sure. The broad sense of attributive might include this:

—DCDuring 16:06, 1 July 2009

This is lowercase, but I thought I'd put it here for now.

• 1919 (?): Lawrence J. Weidmann, The Battle of Bourges, page 92

  Two girls were on the night stretch and three on each of the others, one making sandwiches, one acting as cashier, and the third, called the marmite girl, [...]

— Beobach972 19:30, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Here's another example of 'Marmite sandwiches', referred to both with article and without:

• 2007, Annette Laing, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, Confusion Press, page 28

  Brandon, hungry, decided he would prefer something savory, and was offered a choice of sardines on toast or Marmite sandwich. [...] Brandon didn't know what a Marmite sandwich might be, but it sounded better than crunchy eyeball fish, [...]

Also, I'm sure someone could find examples of 'Marmite kiss[es]' in usenet. — Beobach972 19:39, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

We should try to attest the common noun, too ("something which people either love or hate" — from a TV ad campaign hinging on this aspect of Marmite). The current single citation is useless for this purpose. Equinox ◑ 01:08, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't understand why the 2009 citation is useless, but nevertheless I've added another four citations (all for "the marmite of"), which I think should verify this. Thryduulf (talk) 01:43, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Struck. RFV-passed? NB I copied the rejected quotations to the talk page. — Beobach972 07:03, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

RFV-passed on the strength of the citations. — Beobach 03:48, 18 November 2010 (UTC)