Balalaika, Madyun (1780)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the USSR.
--The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"

   This book, which I come back to, also had the first "vodka."  You don't know how lucky you are, boy.

RUSSIA:
OR, A COMPLEAT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF ALL THE NATIONS WHICH COMPOSE THAT EMPIRE
by Johann Gottlieb Georgi (name not on title page--ed.)
London: J. Nichols
1780

VOLUME ONE
Pg. 135:  They dance to the sound of the pipe, called _bys_, of the Russian _balaleika_*, of the _gousla_, which they name _kress_, and of another instrument which they call _omkress_.
*A sort of guitar, with only two strings, very common in Russia.
(OED and M-W have 1788--ed.)

VOLUME TWO
Pg. 143:  ..._kischmisch_ (a sort of currant)....
Pg. 143:  _Madyun_ is their favourite delicacy, a sort of cake made of certain feeds pounded with poppies, honey, and various spices.
(The revised OED has 1781 for "majoun"--ed.)
Pg. 168:  The most common dishes are _onoschi_, or vermicelli; _plav_, or boiled rice; _nan_, pancakes, and the meats which the law permits.
Pg. 317:  The _porsa_*....
*Fish dried and reduced to powder.
Pg. 319:  ...the liquors in use among the Russians: viz. _quas_, _braga_, or small-beer, beer, and Russ brandy.
Pg. 351:  ..._kourmatsch_, or parched corn.
Pg. 352 ("Teleutes" section):  All in general are fond of their _toutmatsch_, or mashed flesh made into balls, and their _bisch sata_, hashed meat mixed with parched corn.