From disputed Greek or Latin roots through southern Italian pasta kitchens to English, where it also meant a fashionable dandy
A type of pasta in the form of short, curved tubes
From Italian 'maccheroni' (plural of 'maccherone'), whose ultimate origin is disputed. Leading theories connect it to Greek 'makaria' (a barley broth associated with funeral feasts), or to Late Latin 'maccare' meaning to crush or bruise, referring to the kneading of dough. Southern Italian dialect forms suggest the word was well established in Neapolitan and Sicilian cooking before reaching standard Italian. The word entered English in the 16th century and later acquired a slang
The Yankee Doodle lyric 'stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni' refers to the 18th-century Macaroni Club in London, whose members were young men who had traveled to Italy and adopted exaggerated continental fashions. Calling something macaroni meant calling it stylish or fancy.