The term farce has an interesting origin, dating back to a 1390 cookbook where it was referred to as fars and meant “stuffing.” In the early sixteenth century, French theatre incorporated comedic interludes into dramatic plays, likened to “stuffing” in a cinematic sense. Over time, these comedic interludes evolved into their own genre, characterized by exaggerated humor. The word itself stems from the Old French verb farcir, meaning “to stuff,” borrowed from Latin farcire, also meaning “stuff” or “cram.” Ultimately, this can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root brek, signifying “cram together.” Some etymologists even suggest a connection between this root and the word frequent, highlighting the concept of cramming short intervals together.
