It’s stocked on supermarket shelves across Spain and now it’s entering Spanish dictionaries.
Panettone, one of Italy’s most popular desserts, especially at Christmas, is now part of Spain’s most prestigious dictionaries; the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).
The institution, which oversees the usage of the Spanish language, included the term ‘panetone’ among other new words which were now considered to be accepted.
This is the Spanish adaptation of the term of Italy’s Christmas dessert ‘panettone’, a spelling that takes into account the fact that a double ‘t’ does not exist in Spanish.
It also took into account that for many native Spanish speakers, replicating this sound of the double letters is difficult.
RAE also included another version as an accepted alternative for the word: ‘panetón’.
The vocabulary’s definition of the new terms explains that the dessert is ‘a Christmas dessert of Italian origin which consists of a big cake shaped as a dome, filled with raisins and candied fruit’.
Panettone, or in Spanish, panetone, is a slightly sweet bread (or cake) that is traditionally eaten around the holiday season.
It has a dome-like shape, and the best ones have an airy texture along with a rich, buttery taste. The traditional version includes dried fruits like candied orange peels and raisins.
Legend has it that Panettone’s roots date back to the 15th century.
It derived its name from a 15th-century legend of an Italian baker named Toni.
His beautiful daughter was courted by an aristocrat who offered to work as an apprentice in the bakery, just to be near her.
The apprentice created a very rich and very popular cake that came to be known as ‘pain di Toni,’ or bread of Tony.
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