The term empanada was adopted from Spanish in the 1860s, with the earliest reference to it found in a Catalan cookbook dating back to 1520. Originating from the northwestern region of Spain, the dish and its name were derived from a technique of breading and frying known as empanando. This term is formed from the prefix en- (with the nasal sound assimilated to the following plosive), meaning “in”, pan, meaning “bread”, and a verb-forming suffix. The prefix en- itself can be traced back to Latin in-, which has its roots in Proto-Indo-European en, also meaning “in”. The word pan can be linked to Latin panis, which also meant “bread” and served as the origin for words such as panini, companion, and pantry. Many believe that pan ultimately stems from another Proto-Indo-European root, pa, meaning “to feed”.
