Palatschinke(n)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

At 10:49 PM 2/12/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>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.

Maybe.

http://oeh.tu-graz.ac.at/presse/jan00/something.html

<<Was essen und trinken Deutsche im Schiurlaub? Während die "Pommes" (was
auf französisch übrigens "Apfel" heißt, abgekürzt von der "pomme de terre",
unserem "Erdapfel") international und daher ohne Schwierigkeiten bestellbar
sind, zeichnet sich mit der vermeintlichen Hauptspeise bei Ankunft der
Palatschinke (weiblich, nicht: "der Palat-Schinken") ob deren
Fleischlosigkeit Erstaunen auf das Teutonenantlitz.>>

[I suppose "Palat" is probably at least marginally recognizable in German
as = "palate" (any German anatomist please correct me if necessary)
although not standard AFAIK.]

But does the confusion of a hypothetical neophyte pancake-eater on
ski-vacation constitute folk-etymology?

-- Doug Wilson