Pablum

See also: pablum

English

Etymology

The name of a food supplement for malnourished infants developed in 1931 by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Mead Johnson & Company, probably a shortening of Latin pābulum (fodder for animals; food, nourishment), from pā(scō) (to feed, nourish; to drive to pasture; to support; to tend) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (to protect, ward; to shepherd)) + -bulum (suffix denoting an instrument) (from Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom (a variant of *-trom (suffix denoting an instrument or tool))), or directly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-dʰlom (from *peh₂- + *-dʰlom). The name was trademarked in the United States in 1932.[1]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Pablum (uncountable)

  1. (chiefly US) A type of cereal for infants made from cornmeal, oat, and wheat.
    • 1951 July 23, “Now Watch Baby’s Progress on All Four! [advertisement]”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 31, number 4, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:
      Now your baby is even luckier! He'll enjoy new flavor variety with four Pablum cereals— [] They're all equally good for Baby—all based on the original Pablum formula. [] Remember—Pablum is the world's first precooked vitamin and mineral enriched cereal, and doctors have prescribed it for almost twenty years.

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Pablum, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; pablum, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading