More etymology

It's fascinating how the meanings of certain words change subtly with time and context. Take "dinner", for example. In Indian English, it invariably refers to the evening meal. However, in British English it is sometimes used to refer to the afternoon meal (lunch), particularly by older and working-class people. I think at one time the most common British ordering of meal names was Breakfast/Dinner/[Tea]/Supper, though now it is generally the more familiar Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner. In the earlier context, the main meal of the day was typically taken in the afternoon, and tea or supper would be a lighter evening meal. Now, in Britain as elsewhere, the evening meal has become the most prominent, and terminology shifted accordingly. The word dinner comes from the Old French disner, which referred to lunch but had originally meant breakfast, having been derived from the Latin dis- + iēiūnō, literally meaning "to break the fast" (the modern French terms for lunch and breakfast are déjeuner and petit déjeuner respectively). So a word whose original source specifically referred to the first meal of the day has now migrated through all of them and largely come to be associated with the last!