marzapane (massepain)

There are two proposed lines of origin for marzipan; they are not necessarily contradictory and may be complementary, as there have always been Mediterranean trade and cooking influences. Other sources establish the origin of marzipan in China, from where the recipe moved on to the Middle East and then to Europe through Al-Andalus.

Northeast Mediterranean line

Although it is believed to have been introduced to Eastern Europe through the Turks (in badem ezmesi), and most notably produced in Edirne), there is some dispute between Hungary and Italy over its origin. Marzipan became a specialty of the Hanseatic League port towns. In particular, the cities of Lübeck and Tallinn have a proud tradition of marzipan manufacture. Examples include Lübeck Marzipan, which has Protected geographical indication (PGI) status. The city's manufacturers such as Niederegger still guarantee their marzipan to contain two-thirds almonds by weight, which results in a product of highest quality. Historically, the city of Königsberg in East Prussia was also renowned for its distinctive marzipan production. Königsberg marzipan remains a special type of marzipan in Germany that is golden brown on its surface and sometimes embedded with marmalade at its center.

Spain line

Another possible geographic origin is the parts of Spain that were known as Al-Andalus. In Toledo (850–900, though more probably 1150 during the reign of Alfonso VII) this specialty was known as Postre Regio (instead of Mazapán). There are also mentions in the folktale collection, One Thousand and One Nights of an almond paste eaten during Ramadan and as an aphrodisiac.
Mazapán is Toledo's most famous dessert, often created for Christmas, and has PGI status. For this, almonds have to be at least 50% of the total weight, following the directives of Mazapán de Toledo regulator council.
Another idea to support this line is the important tradition of another Spanish almond-based Christmas confectionery, the turrón.

Etymology

The German name has largely ousted the original English name marchpane with the same apparent derivation: 'March bread'. (The word marchpane occurs in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5, Line 9.) Marzapane is documented earlier in Italian than in any other language, and the term pan meaning 'bread' originates in Romance languages. The origin could be from the Latin term martius panis, which means bread of March. In Johann Burchard’s Diarium curiae romanae (1483–1492) the Latin form appears as martiapanis.
The ultimate etymology is unclear; for example, the Italian word derives from the Latin words "Massa" (itself from Greek Μάζα "Maza") meaning pastry and "Pan" meaning bread, this can be particularly seen in the Provençal massapan, in Catalan massapà, the Portuguese maçapão (where 'ç' is an alternative letter for the phoneme usually expressed by 'ss') and old Spanish mazapán – the change from 'ss' to 'z' in Latin words was common in old Spanish and the 'r' appeared later. Among the other possible etymologies set forth in the Oxford English Dictionary, one theory proposes that the word "marzipan" may be a corruption of Martaban, a Burmese city famous for its jars.
The Real Academia Española suggests the Spanish mazapán is perhaps derived from the Hispanic Arabic, pičmáṭ, from the Greek παξαμάδιον, paxamádion ('little cake').

Another possible source is from Arabic: موثابان mawthābān 'king who sits still'. The Arabic, Latinised as matapanus, was used to describe a Venetian coin depicting an enthroned Christ the King. These coins were stored in ornate boxes. From about the fifteenth century, when the coins were no longer in circulation, the boxes became decorative containers for storing and serving luxury sweetmeats. One such luxury that crept into the box in the sixteenth century is the now-famous almond-flavoured marzipan, named (at least proximately) after the box in which it was stored.