Palatschinke(n)

[Mark A Mandel]

On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Peter A. McGraw wrote:

#I don't know whether there has been an article devoted specifically to
#Palatschinken, but the dictionary evidence leaves it unclear whether folk
#etymology was involved in the borrowing of Hungarian palacsinta into German
#as Palatschinke.  Peter Richardson and I once exchanged recollections of
#the first time we saw "Palatschinken" on an Austrian menu.  Both our first
#thoughts had been that it must be some kind of ham (Schinken), and I'm sure
#many other Americans have made the same spontaneous folk etymology.
            *********

Americans, yes; but would any native speaker of German do so? That's the
important question here.

-- Mark A. Mandel
   Linguist at Large