Sandwich from mosquitoes


A sandwich (kanapka) in Poland, tends to be an open
sandwich; toppings sitting on a slice of bread, like a large canapé. In fact the word kanapka is the diminutive form of kanapa (sofa) which itself comes from the French word, canapé, for sofa. Its resemblance to the word canopy is no mere coincidence. A mosquito net over a bed was called a canopy from the Ancient Greek word, konops, for mosquito. Over time the word for the canopy over the bed, came to be used for the bed itself, then finally came to mean sofa. So the toppings of canapés and kanapki sit on little beds of bread. 

I first heard the etymology of canapé from Something Rhymes with Purple, a splendid podcast by Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth. 

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