why is there 13 in a bakers dozen?

Answer 1

It's widely believed that this phrase originated from the practice of medieval English bakers giving an extra loaf when selling a dozen in order to avoid being penalized for selling short weight. This is an attractive story and, unlike many that inhabit the folk memory, it appears to be substantially true. We can say a little more to flesh out that derivation though.

Firstly, the practise appears to have originated several centuries before the phrase. England has a long history of regulation of trade and bakers were regulated by a trade guild called The Worshipful Company of Bakers, which dates back to at least the reign of Henry II (1154-89). The law that caused bakers to be so wary was the Assize of Bread and Ale. In the 1266 Henry III revived a ancient statute that regulated the price of bread according to the price of wheat. Bakers or brewers who gave short measure could be fined, pilloried or flogged, as in 1477 when the Chronicle of London reported that a baker called John Mund[e]w was 'schryved upon the pyllory' for selling bread that was underweight.

Secondly, it's not quite so neat that whenever bakers sold twelve loaves they then added another identical loaf to make thirteen. They would have had just as much concern when selling eleven loaves, but there's no baker's eleven. Remember that the Assize regulated weight not number. What the bakers were doing whenever they sold bread in any quantity was adding something extra to make sure the total weight wasn't short. The addition was called the inbread or vantage loaf. When selling in quantity to middlemen or wholesalers they would add an extra loaf or two. When selling single loaves to individuals they would offer a small extra piece of bread.

The Worshipful Company still exist and report that this practise carried on within living memory and that a small 'inbread' was often given with each loaf.

So, that's the practise, what about the phrase? That goes back to at least 1599, as in this odd quotation from John Cooke's Tu Quoque:

"Mine's a baker's dozen: Master Bubble, tell your money."

The phrase is related to the practise in John Goodwin's A Being Filled with the Spirit, referring back to a quotation from 1665:

"As that which we call the in-bread is given into the dozen, there is nothing properly paid or givn for it, but only for the dozen."

By 1864 Hotten's Slang Dictionary gives this explicit definition for Baker's dozen:

"This consists of thirteen or fourteen; the surplus number, called the inbread, being thrown in for fear of incurring the penalty for short weight."

Answer 2

What's the origin of "baker's dozen"?
24-Oct-2002


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Dear Straight Dope:

I can't find anything on why a baker's dozen is 13. I heard that it came from the time when royalty had food testers. Thus, the tester got one and the dozen was still intact for the king or queen. For some reason I don't buy that. Help. --Leslie Matteson

SDSTAFF Dex replies:

I don't buy it either. I've got a much simpler theory, and if you don't like it I've got a slightly more complicated one that doesn't require us to drag in the royalty.

The first theory goes back to ancient times. Bakers were widely viewed with suspicion, since it was common (and easy) for them to short-weight customers. Many societies had severe penalties for bakers who engaged in such underhanded practices. For instance, one source says that in ancient Egypt, the baker's ear was nailed to the doorpost of his bakery if he were found selling light loaves. (I'm not sure whether the ear was still attached to the baker. Either way it was a pretty stiff punishment.)

Under the code of Hammurabi, a loaf of bread and a man's hand were interchangeable. They took their bread seriously back then.

In the mid-13th century, British law imposed strict regulations on bakers regarding the weight of bread. Bakers wanted to make sure they complied, since the penalties were severe (a fine or the pillory, although nothing involving ears, so far as I know). It was difficult to make loaves of uniform weight in those days before automation, so bakers added a 13th loaf to every shipment of 12--better to be overweight than under. Thus "a baker's dozen" meant 13.

The second theory is more complicated. A baker selling to a third party (a street vendor, say) would add a 13th loaf as the profit for the middleman. That is, the baker sells the middleman 13 loaves for the price of 12, and the middle man sells the 13 individual loaves for a 7.7% profit.

Whichever theory you accept, the evolution of the expression today has come to mean that the baker adds an extra cookie, bun, pastry or whatever to the order of 12 as a bonus.

By the way, the word "baker" itself, meaning one who bakes (duh), dates from around the year 1000. A variant is bakester, which survives in the surname Baxter. As Cecil has pointed out, some think -ster is a female ending and that a bakester or baxter was originally a female baker, just as there were websters (female weavers) and spinsters (female thread spinners). But those acquainted with many gangsters, mobsters, or teamsters (not saying these three terms are in any way related) may have their doubts.

--SDSTAFF Dex
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board

Answer 3

Because it was so Bakers could stay out of jail. In the 15th Century baked goods the way they were made were sold in batches of 12 to a dozen.

Bakers figured they could save and make more money by making the baked goods smaller in size. Besides who could tell when there were 12 of them stuffed into a bag? Apparently some customers were wise to this practice. As London Lawmakers passed a law making it a standard weight for these goods.

If it was found that this weight was off there were stiff fines and jail terms in store for the baker. So it became a custom for the baker to throw in an extra cake or roll to make sure they made the required weight. Hence the Baker's Dozen. ;)

Answer 4

There are 13 in a baker's dozen so that the baker could eat one!

Answer 5

a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat. The oldest known source and most probable origin for the expression "bakers dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216-1272), called the Assize of Bread and Ale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker's_dozen

Grapevine Rumor has it---also for good luck!

Answer 6

in the old days before accurate scales bakers could be find if the bread were under weight so he use to give the shopkeeper 13 for 12 for the short weight

Answer 7

I thought it was so the baker kept one for themselves, making it a dozen.

Answer 8

when the penalties used to be very severe for giving short weights bakers used to give 13 for the price of 12 to avoid being hung

Answer 9

incase he made twelve and there was 1 dodgy 1 it wouldn't be a dozen. but makin 13 gives more of a gaurantee of gettin 12 good 1s. but gone are them days. they make 100's and thousands at a time now

Answer 10

one for the baker.