welsh rarebit

[NixnJay]

how did this get it's name?

[Quizmonster]

It's just a corruption of Welsh rabbit...the idea, I suppose, being that poor Welsh people couldn't afford actual rabbit and had to make do with toast and cheese! (Scotch rabbit is similar.)

[BBWCHATT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_rarebit

Name
The OED establishes that the original name of the food was "Welsh rabbit", and mentions "Welsh rarebit" only as an "etymologizing alteration of [the preceding]. There is no evidence of the independent use of rarebit". The source is not exactly known, but most likely was originally a slur. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was common in England to use the adjective "Welsh" for things of inferior quality, especially if these had been substituted for something better. This sense of "counterfeiting" may be connected with the use of "Welsh" or "Welch" as a verb meaning "to refuse or avoid paying money laid as a bet". The first record of the term "Welsh rabbit" was in 1725, with the alternative form "rarebit" occurring from 1785. In the Victorian era and later, however, the latter form became preferred in recipe books. This was based on folk etymology � "rabbit", that is, was assumed to be a perversion of earlier "rarebit", although the reverse was in fact true. Although "Welsh rabbit" is still heard, "Welsh rarebit" is the more commonly used form now.