Plural of farina; fine flour or meal made from cereal grains, nuts, or starchy vegetables.
From Latin 'farina' meaning flour or meal, derived from 'far' (grain). The word traveled through Romance languages and entered English in the 17th century to describe finely ground grain products used in cooking.
Farina was so important to the Roman diet that they had a goddess of grain (Ceres) and a whole word just for flour—it's the root of 'farina' and also relates to 'farce,' because both involve filling!
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