BUN  , a small cake, usually sweet and

round . In Scotland the word is used for a very rich spiced type of cake and in the north of Ireland for a round loaf of ordinary bread . The derivation of the word has been much disputed . It has been affiliated to the old provincial French bugne, " swelling," in the sense of a i Ad Dardanum, de diversis generibus musicorum instsumentorum . 2 De Cantu et Musica Sacra (1774) . ' For illustrations see Amides archeologiques, iii. p . 82 et seq . • Musicagetutschtand aussgezogen (Basle, 1511) . " fritter," but the New English Dictionary doubts the usage of the word . It is quite as probable that it has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot cross buns . These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan history . Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon-goddess; and these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice of which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon-goddess, the equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians .

The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to

Astarte and other divinities . This cake they called bous ((ix), in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is suggested that the word bun " is derived . Diogenes Laertius (c . A.D . 200), speaking of the offering made by Empedocles, says " He offered one of the sacred liba, called a bouse, made of fine flour and honey." Hesychius (c . 6th century) speaks of the boun, and describes it as a kind of cake with a representation of two horns marked on it In time the Greeks marked these cakes with a cross, possibly an allusion to the four quarters of the moon, or more probably to facilitate the distribution of the sacred bread which was eaten by the worshippers . Like the Greeks, the Romans eat cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and taken in with them,---a custom alluded to by St Paul in r Cor. x . 28 . At Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in diameter, and plainly marked with across; were found . In the Old Testament a reference is made in Jer. vii . 18-xliv . 19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess .

The cross-bread was eaten by the pagan

Saxons in honour of Eoster, their goddess of light . The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom . The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist . The boun with its Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers mentioned in St Chrysostom's Liturgy . In the medieval church, buns made from the dough for the consecrated Host were distributed to the communicants after Mass on Easter Sunday . In France and other Catholic countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches to communicants who have a long journey before they can break their fast . The Holy Eucharist in the Greek church has a cross printed on it . In England there seems to have early been a disposition on the part of the bakers to imitate the church, and they did a good trade in buns and cakes stamped with a cross, for as far back as 1252 the practice was forbidden by royal proclamation; but this seems to haves had Iittle effect . With the rise of Protestantism the cross bun lost its sacrosanct nature, and became a mere eatable associated for no particular reason with Good Friday . Cross-bread is not, however, reserved for that day; in the north of England people usually crossmark their cakes with a knife before putting them in the oven . Many superstitions cling round hot cross buns . Thus it is still a common belief that one bun should be kept for luck's sake to the following Good Friday .