"thin, flat soft cake," 1510s, Scottish, probably shortened from Dutch schoon brood "fine bread," from Middle Dutch schoonbroot, from schoon, scone "bright, beautiful" (see sheen) + broot (see bread (n.)).
Entries linking to scone
sheen n.
"shining, luster, brightness, splendor" 1602 (in "Hamlet" iii.2), noun use of adjective sheene "beautiful, bright," from Old English scene, sciene "beautiful; bright, brilliant," from Proto-Germanic *skauniz "conspicuous" (source also of Old Frisian skene, Middle Dutch scone, Dutch schoon, Old High German skoni, German schön "fair, beautiful;" Gothic skaunjai "beautiful"), from PIE root *keu- "to see, observe, perceive." It is related to show (v.), and OED calls it "virtually a verbal noun to shine."
The meaning "thin film of oil on water" is from 1970. As an adjective now only in poetic or archaic use, but in Middle English used after a woman's name, or as a noun, "fair one, beautiful woman."
bread n.
"kind of food made from flour or the meal of some grain, kneaded into a dough, fermented, and baked," Old English bread "bit, crumb, morsel; bread," cognate with Old Norse brauð, Danish brød, Old Frisian brad, Middle Dutch brot, Dutch brood, German Brot.
According to one theory [Watkins, etc.] from Proto-Germanic *brautham, from PIE root *bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn," in reference to the leavening. But OED argues at some length for the basic sense being not "cooked food" but "piece of food," and the Old English word deriving from a Proto-Germanic *braudsmon- "fragments, bits" (cognate with Old High German brosma "crumb," Old English breotan "to break in pieces") and being related to the root of break (v.). It cites Slovenian kruh "bread," literally "a piece."
Either way, by c. 1200 it had replaced the usual Old English word for "bread," which was hlaf (see loaf (n.)).
The extended sense of "food, sustenance in general" (late 12c.) is perhaps via the Lord's Prayer. The slang meaning "money" dates from 1940s, but compare breadwinner, and bread as "one's livelihood" dates to 1719. Bread and circuses (1914) is from Latin, in reference to food and entertainment provided by the government to keep the populace content. "Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses" [Juvenal, Sat. x.80].
*keu-
also *skeu- Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to see, observe, perceive."
It forms all or part of: Anschauung; caution; cautious; caveat; kudos; precaution; scavenger; scone; sheen; show.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kavih "wise, sage; seer, poet;" Avestan kauui- "seer, poet, wise man;" Middle Iranian škoh "splendor, majesty;" Latin cautio "care, foresight," cautus "careful, heedful," cavere "beware, take heed;" Greek kydos "glory, fame;" Lithuanian kavoti "tend, safeguard;" Armenian cucanem "I show;" Old Church Slavonic čudo "wonder;" Czech (z)koumati "to perceive, be aware of;" Serbian čuvati "watch, heed;" Old English sceawian "to look at," Middle Dutch schoon "beautiful, bright," properly "showy," Old High German scouwon "to watch."