"pastrami"

[Victoria Neufeldt]

Not only is Larry's suggestion plausible, it is in fact pretty well what the
Webster's New World Dict (3rd College ed, 1988) has.  I don't remember the
details, but I THINK that was new for the 3rd ed, and it was probably David
Gold who researched it.

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt, Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA  01102
Tel. (413) 734-3134 ext 124
Fax  (413) 827-7262


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 1999 12:10 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "pastrami"
>
>
> At 4:17 AM -0400 6/27/99, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> >---------------------------------------------
> >PASTRAMI
> >
> >    David Shulman told me today that he found a "pastromi" citation from
> >1927.  As everyone knows, "pastrami" is our greatest etymological mystery
> >since the Reuben sandwich and the Caesar salad.
>
> I suppose it might be  my own local folk etymology, but I've
> wondered about
> the relation (if any) between pastrami and the Turkish dried meat delicacy
> known as pastIrmI (back [i]).  Given the long Ottoman occupation of the
> relevant parts of Eastern Europe, home of Romanian Jews and others, it's
> not inconceivable (even if it's probably mistaken) to posit such a
> relation...
>
> Larry
>