Borschtich, Blini, Tschi, Piroggi, Vodka (1799)(A GEM!!)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 02/06/2002 2:06:22 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:

> VIEW OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE,
>  DURING THE REIGN OF CATHARINE THE SECOND,
>  AND TO THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
>  by William Tooke
>  in three volumes   Third Edition    Dublin: P. Wogan    1801
>
>     OED cites from this book many, many times, and dates it as 1799 (first
> edition?).
>     How can I antedate the OED on so many important food terms in a book
that
> a reader _already went through_?  Were these food cites thrown away?
>     Were they never recorded at all????

Yours is not the only instance.  The OED mined "Jewish Manual, or Pract.
Information Jewish & Mod. Cookery" for a number of terms, including
     matso, tomato soup, Haman's fritters, apple charlotte
and yet I was able to find 7 antedatings and I'm still checking the book.

My guess is that whatever professor or madman went through _ The Jewish
Manual_ just was not as thorough as s/he might have been.  Or perhaps that
searcher was working from an appeals list and failed to notice some potential
antedatings.

     - James A. Landau