pastille

Origin

Partly from the following: * From Late Middle English pastil, pastill (“crushed leek leaves; vegetable pulp”), borrowed from Old French pastel, probably from Latin pastillus, pastillum (“small bread roll; lozenge to freshen breath; medicated lozenge”), possibly from pāstus (“fed, nourished; consumed; having eaten; of an animal: driven to pasture, pastured; having browsed or grazed”) + -illus (diminutive suffix). Pāstus is the perfect passive participle of pāscō (“to feed, nourish; to maintain, support; of an animal: to drive to pasture, pasture; to browse, graze”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect; to shepherd”). * Borrowed from French pastille (“candy or medicinal lozenge; small fragrant pellet burnt to perfume the air; pellet, pill”), and from its etymon Spanish pastilla (“candy or medicinal lozenge; small fragrant pellet burnt to perfume the air”), from Latin pastillus, pastillum; see above. Doublet of pastegh, pastel, pastiglia, pastila, and pastilla.