thrice upon a bagel Part I

Thu May 10 10:28:48 UTC 2012

There are three parts to this long post. First, I deal with variations
of spelling related to "bagel"--unfortunately no antedating, but some
modern variants might be of interest--including some related comments on
doughnuts. Second, I attached a note on a couple of Middle-Eastern food
terms that came up in context (lamejun, zaatar, borek). Finally, an
attempt to antedate a couple of words lead to a whole list (with
apologies to Jesse Sheidlower, who prefers such things to appear in
separate emails).

New words or meanings not in OED
bageleh // baigeleh // beigeleh // beygeleh--an alleged "Israeli
pretzel" or "a version of pita", but simply a ring-shaped flatbread
covered in seeds or spices
lamejun // lamejune // lahmacun // lahmajoun // lachmazou--an "Armenian
pizza", actually just a type of Middle-Eastern (Turkish, Lebanese,
Armenian, Syrian, Cypriot) flatbread with a "filling" on top
beigeleh // beygeleh // donut--zero, nothing

Notes on variations
zaatar
borek

Interdating

pirog -- 1801, 1805, 1810 (correction of OED date)

Antedating (all antedating below is incidental and thus may well be
improved with systematic search)

tvorog 1918 --> 1801
shchi 1824 --> 1801
kasha 1808 --> 1801
pierogie 1. 1910 --> 1863 --> ? 1818
borsch (barszcz) 1884 --> 1818 --> 1808
zakuska 1885 --> 1861

Part I

It occurred to me to look for variants of spelling of "bagel" with "-eh"
or "-e" for improvised suffix, but instead of early hits (hoping for an
antedating), I got mostly new ones. I tried three variants so
far--bageleh, baigeleh and beigeleh--and got different results.

Some of the "Bageleh" appear to be names of bagel joints (NYC, South
Florida and Southern California). But "bageleh" popped up news stories
that refer to "pretzels" or "Israeli pretzels". "Beigeleh" gave
something entirely different--"zilch, nothing", lit. "zero" (rather than
"bupkis/bupkas" etc. that really means "nothing"). And "baigeleh" turned
out to be something yet more different.

Sasha Klotz's Yinglish is intended as humor, so it's no surprise to find
"baigeleh" there as a fake portmanteau of "bagel-boy" and "faygeleh"
that results in a "gay Jew" ( http://goo.gl/JWnUR ). But there is more:

http://goo.gl/8B1tp
Is that my buréka? [blog] January 25, 2007
baigeleh
> this is a recipe as per author, maggie glezer. baigeleh are a type of
> pita bread which are often seen in israel and made into all sorts of
> sandwiches.

I was a bit puzzled when I saw these UFOs in a Queens bagelry being sold
as "flat bagels". They were pricey--about double what a regular bagel
cost. It never occurred to me at the time (last New Year's) that they
might be differentiated by name. The ones I saw looked pretty flat--like
a run-over bagel--and would make fine sandwiches where a regular bagel
might test even the biggest mouths. But the recipe at the blog is a bit
different--it's double-raised dough and the ring is a twisted looped log
(one of the traditional ways of shaping bagels).

There is still more. Over a year later, a comment on another blog pick
up the link and makes the Israeli (Arab) connection:

http://goo.gl/mcmga
> Shalom Freyda – the bread is called Baygeleh or Beigeleh or Baigeleh
> (בייגלה) and they are indeed delicious :)
> Here’s a recipe in Hebrew:
> http://www.mevashlim.com/Recipe/5632001.asp
> And here’s one in English:
> http://is-that-my-bureka.blogspot.com/2007/01/baigeleh.html

The comment is by "cat", who appears to be the proprietor of the blog
Transparent Things and the author of the original post. However, he was
responding to another comment on the same post:

> Can anyone tell me the name of this bread? I had it recently in
> Jerusalem with zatar and it was delicious. I’d like to find a recipe
> for it.

So what we have here is really a hybrid of a bagel, zaatar and lamejun
(a.k.a. Armenian pizza, usually made with zaatar, feta or ground
meat--Wiki lists it as "Lahmacun* or lahmajoun", but you will not find
that spelling in Armenian stores in Watertown and Belmont, MA).

For "bageleh":

THE BAGEL COMES FULL CIRCLE
Pay-Per-View -
South Florida Sun - Sentinel - Mar 30, 1989
Although ring-shaped, these "bageleh," as they were called, tasted
somewhat like ... He fondly recalls the "bageleh man," who was like the
ice cream man of our ...

Miami Herald, The : 'THESE DAYS HAVE BEEN SO BAD . . . I...
$2.95 -
Miami Herald - Jan 21, 1991
He was in bed, and I was in bed, and the mask and the telephone and the
radio and everything was there, and the tea and the bageleh (an Israeli
pretzel). ...

--> also Philadelphia Inquirer, The : ISRAELIS SEEKING RETURN TO...
$2.95 -
Philadelphia Inquirer - Jan 21, 1991

Philadelphia Inquirer, The : YES, ISRAEL HAS BAGELS TODAY
$2.95 -
Philadelphia Inquirer - Apr 29, 1984
Israeli candy stores and groceries sell something called a bageleh, but
it is more like the hard, round American pretzel than a real bagel.
Israelis also can get ...

--> also Bagel baker finds the Promised Land
Pay-Per-View -
The Sun - Apr 11, 1984

http://goo.gl/72Nvq
> We ate bageleh with zaatar, then falafel balls, then the best hummus
> I’ve ever had, then tea with mint, then halvah, then a stop at a spice
> store.

http://goo.gl/qOBFE
Ha'arets 16.10.01
A time to test and a time to taste. By Mali Moadim
> Meir and Bagel offers Bageleh b'tzapar (safari pretzels), tasty
> pretzel rings with sesame.

Now, for "beigeleh":

First up, the same meaning as above:

http://goo.gl/cJu78
> Called /beigeleh /in Hebrew and /ka'ak/ in Arabic (not to be confused
> with the smaller, more cookie-like /ka'ak/ in the rest of the Arab
> world), you can't miss this only-in-Jerusalem specialty: enormous
> loops of bagel-ish bread coated in sesame seeds, sold by mobile
> vendors all over the Christian and Muslim Quarters of the Old City.
> Buy a loop of /beigeleh/ and you'll also get a little packet of
> /za'atar/ (an oregano-based spice blend) for dipping.

http://goo.gl/fKgcn
> Watch first; a translation follows below. And keep in mind: in Israel,
> the words /beigeleh/ (singular) and beigelach (plural) refer to pretzels.

http://goo.gl/3VxNw [FU is Food Underground--an Israeli Facebook-based
food blog]
> FU specializes in traditional, hand-made soft pretzels. Boiled in a
> natronlauge bath, these are not beigeleh!

And for the fun stuff:

http://goo.gl/NslMK
Ha'arets 09.12.08
An ultra-Orthodox startup's secret to weathering crises: modest living.
By Guy Grimland and TheMarker Correspondent
> "From about 1994 or 1995 to 2004, some $4 billion had been put into
> finding new peptide hormones, but the result was beigeleh," he says,
> or, zilch.

http://goo.gl/AeQaL [Multiple puns here: tomorrow vs. Maariv; hole in
the beigeleh; food blog Beygale]
> Tomorrow in Maariv --The hole in the beigeleh -- Investigation:
> Problematic conduct by administration of popular food blog 'Beygale'

OK, in this case, we really /are/ talking about a Hebrew word. But the
effect is the same as using "donut" to imply a zero--quite common when
describing sports futility (e.g., a team getting shut out or a baseball
player getting no hits in a game--usually, from more that a single
attempt). Occasionally, the meaning is reversed, somewhat--e.g.,
referring to a perfect earned run average by a pitcher during a
particular stretch.

http://goo.gl/OhHWB [caught no fish]
> I scored a donut, but Charlie brought a fish to the boat; a tiny fish
> that flung out of the water on the hook set.

http://goo.gl/eSeKh [here the implication is of a missed penalty shot]
> GOTTEMAKER scored a “donut” on extra for 3-2 at 1:05.

http://goo.gl/2H1CB
> He was consistent all year besides the Harbour round where he scored a
> doughnut.

http://goo.gl/q9IYH
> It was truly a challenge as 4 of the 10 contest races were from
> Remington Park where Jason went 3/4 and I scored a doughnut.

A bonus pun:

http://goo.gl/U1zNh
> Isabel scored a donut. I got nothing-as usual.

OED has no entry for this meaning of donut, although it is theoretically
subsumed under doughnut 2.a.

> 2. a. /colloq./ or /slang/. Applied to various objects with a shape
> resembling the toroidal shape of a doughnut, as a motor-car or
> aeroplane tyre or a ring-shaped float (see quots.). In /Math./, a torus.

However, none of the examples use "doughnut" to mean a cypher.

Back to "bageleh/beigeleh". Note the mention of the Hebrew food blog
"Beygale" in one of the examples above. This is not accidental--it
corresponds to the blog's URL (since the blog is in Hebrew, the name has
to be transcribed somehow)-- http://beygale.co.il/ . The interesting
thing about the Hebrew spelling is identical to the one in "cat's"
comment (way above). The use of double-yodh usually indicates a Hebrew
borrowing from Yiddish, I believe (as is, of course, the listed plural
"beigelach"). A popular Yiddish song from the 30s (I have a recording
here somewhere, must be by the Barry Sisters--or maybe Al Jolson) is
about "bageleh" (Aha! Hmm... This one uses "bublichki", which is the
Russian word for what we know as "bagelach"--never mind, both are
mentioned http://goo.gl/i7Jd7 ). So the whole thing goes full circle.

I haven't mentioned the "y" variants, e.g, "beygeleh". These are dime a
dozen. Here's a "Beygeleh" fantasy by Alla Dantsig [original page here
http://goo.gl/c3JAo ]

http://goo.gl/Yz1U1

Here's "beygeleh" for the same flat pseudo-pretzel-pita-thing [JSTOR
document, verified in the PDF, thanks to the Boston Public Library access]:

http://goo.gl/0D9na
> There are chewy seeded /beygeleh/ and biscuits; a dish of white, fat
> cheese and a bowl of runny yogurt; mango sliced-up jagged, leaking
> juice on a stained bread-board.

VS-)

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