thrice upon a bagel Parts II and III

[Victor Steinbok]

Part II.
Major Note:
*Lahmacun/Lamejun/Lahmajoun--OED has no entries for any of these, but
the former does pop up in an example under borek (with Turkish spelling).

 > 1998 /Food & Trav./ Apr. 47/1 The budget-conscious will settle for
 > lahmaçun, a sort of pizza, or a börek, the Ottoman answer to a Cornish
 > pasty.

"Armenian pizza" is a common referent for lamejun (e.g., here
http://goo.gl/Djo3B and http://goo.gl/q7Ldn and http://goo.gl/gl8Bw and
http://goo.gl/Kwlz2 ). The zaatar version is often just identified as
"zaatar", especially by Lebanese grocers. But the Armenian tag can be in
dispute.

http://goo.gl/mcOJS
 > Right next to the Spice Market is Hamdi Restaurant serving traditional
 > Turkish delicacies like lahmacun (Turkish thin crust pizza) and
 > Fistikli kebab (pistachio and meat kebabs).


Borek entry (1830) mentions a number of spellings and variants,
including Ladino boreka/burek/bureka, but no mention is made of current
Israeli "bureka" (often used in plural as "burekas"--unclear whether
this is from Arabic, Turkish or Ladino) or Armenian variants "boreg"
(e.g., http://goo.gl/4gWVq or http://goo.gl/cvXek --cheese boreg is
nearly identical with spanakopita and other spinach pies of
Mediterranean; "boreg" spelling /is/ mentioned, but not in connection
with Armenian cuisine) and "byorek" (Western Armenian; a.k.a.,
"khachapouri" in Eastern Armenia and in Russia--wait... -pouri...
Russia... pirog/pirogi/pirozhki... hmmmm... also Polish
pierog/pierogi/pierozki and Ukrainian/Slovakian pirohy/pyrohy/pyrogy,
German bierock--transformed into Pirok in Argentina and Brazil). Trying
to determine who (Armenians, Turks, Poles, Russians?) has primacy in
terminology in filled pastries and dumplings is like depriving Italians
of tomatoes or Hungarians of paprika.

And it's not just borek.

http://goo.gl/xdMO0
 > It appears that Greek Cyprus has opened up another front in its
 > ongoing battle with Turkey to claim certain traditional food items as
 > its own. Before it was baklava and Turkish (or, if you prefer,
 > Cypriot) coffee. But now Turkish food makers are crying foul over
 > Cypriot attempts to stake a claim as the creators of lahmacun -- a
 > baked thin round of dough covered with a savory minced meat paste (and
 > which actually has Syrian roots). From the Hurriyet Daily News:
 >> Recent Greek Cypriot claims that lahmacun, a thin-crust snack food
 >> topped by minced meat, is a Greek dish have angered Turks, adding a
 >> new chapter to a long-running culinary battle about who invented what
 >> food.
 > Greek Cyprus attendants at the International Food and Drink Event in
 > London this week presented “lachmazou” to visitors, defining the food
 > as a “traditional Cyprus home-made pastry.” The culinary claim
 > reportedly angered Turkish visitors to the fair.
 > “I won’t say anything about Greeks copying baklava and lahmacun from
 > us [Turks] but they can’t manage to make either,” said businessman
 > Hüseyin Özer, who was attending the fair. According to Özer, the
 > “lachmazou” lacked taste in comparison to lahmacun made in Turkey.
 > Lahmacun belongs to the area from around the southeastern Turkish
 > provinces of Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep, Özer said.

The Hurriyet Daily News article is here http://goo.gl/TKUPu

 > Greek Cyprus attendants at the International Food and Drink Event in
 > London this week presented "lachmazou" to visitors, defining the food
 > as a "traditional Cyprus home-made pastry." The culinary claim
 > reportedly angered Turkish visitors to the fair.
 > ...
 > Lahmacun belongs to the area from around the southeastern Turkish
 > provinces of Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep, Özer said.
 > In addition to lahmacun and baklava, Greeks and Turks have both
 > claimed cultural ownership rights of döner kebap, as well as the
 > shadow puppet play, Hacıvat and Karagöz.
 > The Gaziantep Commerce Chamber received EU Commission approval in 2009
 > to sell baklava as a Turkish cuisine but it is still being sold in
 > Europe as a "traditional Greek pastry" with packages that feature
 > Greek flags, according to reports.
 > Lahmacun, or "Meat with dough," is an item of prepared food
 > originating in the early Syrian cuisine of the Levant, consisting of a
 > round, thin piece of baked dough topped with minced meat -- usually
 > beef and lamb. Lahmacun is often served sprinkled with lemon juice and
 > wrapped around vegetables, including pickles, tomatoes, peppers,
 > onions, lettuce, and parsley or cilantro.


Pirog (1662-1723-1811), pirozhok (1887), pierogi (1910/1968) are all in
OED; lamejun (all variants), spanakopita are not. "Zaatar" seems to be
misleading in OED. Zaatar (1917/1963, however spelled or pronounced)
refers specifically to thyme, although, perhaps, early English sources
might have been confused on this matter (that's irrelevant to what it
actually means, but is relevant to the use of the dictionary in
"translating" English sources). That's relevant for zaatar 1. Dry thyme
is usually mixed with crushed sumac, salt and sesame to make a spice mix
(the Turkish/Armenian equivalent of curry powder)--which is correctly
identified as zaatar 2. This mix is then blended with olive oil and is
used as a topping for lamajun--both the resulting paste and the
zaatar-flavored lamejune /also/ often go by "zaatar". The paste is
subsumed under zaatar 2., although paste and dry mix are not the same
thing (and paste is not, technically, a "spice mix".

Zaatar, in Armenian-Turkish-Lebanese cuisine is /only/ thyme, not
"variously identified as thyme, oregano, marjoram, hyssop, or
savory"--which can only refer to misidentifications in /English/
literature (in fact, the first quotation from 1917 does just that). OED
etymology also identifies the English version as derived/borrowed from
Arabic, while the common spelling is closer to Turkish and Armenian.
With respect to other terminology this is usually made clear--that is,
the word is likely borrowed from Turkish, even if it originates from
Semitic sources.


Part III

OED entry for pierogi separates the plural-coordinated original version
(a.) from individualized count dumplings (b.) with plural pierogis or
pierogies. But the earliest example for b. is from DARE (example listed
as 1968-69, but from 2002 volume) as "padogies". Curiously, searching
"padogies" in Google brings up... results for "peirogies".

The third OED example of Pirog is from 1811 edition of Clarke's Travels
in Various Countries. Here's the same quote from the full edition of
1810, pp. 632-3 http://goo.gl/PMgd2

An interdating, but only to 1805:

http://goo.gl/j7kP1
A northern summer: or, Travels round the Baltic, through Denmark,
Sweden, Russia, Prussia, and Part of Germany, in the Year 1804. By Sir
John Carr. London: 1805
Chapter 12. p. 269
 > As I walked along I observed, on each side of the street, several
 > stands, each attended by a reverend looking long-bearded Russian, with
 > piroghi, or little pies filled with meat, next to which were eggs, and
 > salted cucumbers, of which the Russians are particularly fond, and in
 > a third were pyramids of berries, much resembling a mulberry in shape,
 > but of a light yellowish colour, called the maroshki; the cranberry,
 > called the glukoi; wild strawberries, whortleberries, and
 > cloudberries, said to be excellent antiscorbutics.

A couple of corrections, in case someone tries to link some odd-looking
words: maroshki should actually be maroshka and the cranberry name is
not glukoi, but kliukva or klyukva--easily corruptible, apparently.

One more, for 1801--sadly, no available 17th or 18th century sources in GB.

http://goo.gl/42vfP
The picture of Petersburg. By Heinrich Friedrich von Storch. London: 1801
Chapter 4. Consumption. p. 122
 > Their daily fare is schtschi, or the cabbage-soup already mentioned;
 > kascha; a thick porridge of millet and other grain; botvinya, a cold
 > mug of quas, with fish or flesh and cucumbers; snetki, the little
 > dried fish above noticed; piroghi, cakes or small pies filled with
 > meat or eggs and red turneps, and baked in butter or linseed-oil and
 > hempoil ; tvarok, turned milk, broiled mushrooms, and the like. All
 > these dishes are of russian invention, and have been for ages in
 > general use throughout the country.

In addition to "piroghi" (for "pirog", plural), also note "tvarok",
which is an antedating of "tvorog" (OED 1918) by over a century. OED
etymology for "quark" (German "cheese") also mentions "tvorog" and its
other Slavic equivalents with the comment "of uncertain origin". There
is little uncertainty about it--the root is likely shared with the
Russian word for whey and buttermilk and is derived from "turn" (i.e.,
ferment). (Compare, syvorotka==serum or whey, povorot==turn). It also
looks a bit like the Slavic cluster for "create" (tvor-), but that seems
less likely. "var-" would be closer to the root that is reflected in the
verb to boil or to cook. It's possible that this was the source (the
"curds" of the cheese are cooked in order to separate them from the
liquid). But the word almost certainly originated from one of these
three--it may not be settled, but it's hardly uncertain.

The same passage also antedates shchi (OED 1824), cabbage soup.
Shockingly, it even antedates kasha (OED 1808), gruel or porridge. I
expect documents to turn up, eventually, that will push these two back
another 100 years, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Also note that
both words end up in Yiddish as well--kasha, as is, but shchi gets
transformed into schiav. There is a slight issue here, however, as
schiav is likely more directly related to shchavel', sorrel, which is
used for a somewhat lighter version of shchi, which is usually made with
cabbage (both traditionally sour). It's common also to refer to a sour
soup made from spinach (as sorrel is usually unavailable or ridiculously
expensive, while Russians simply pick it wild in the summer) with the
same name (in this case, acid is added).

The turneps are simply turnips, although it might not be the English
word that used to be spelled with the -e- frequently--the Russian word
is borrowed from a Western European language (no idea which), is
transliterated exactly as written, but has the stress on the second
syllable.

The subtitle of the page (i.e., the contents of the passage, as marked
at the top of the page) is "National Messes". The OED lists a lot of
definitions and I don't seem to be able to fit any of them precisely to
the present situation--if it's 5.d., it would be antedating. (Something
like "national cuisine", "national dishes", "national table", etc.)

Also note that Carr mentions "piroghi" as "little pies" and von Storch
does not differentiate between large and small ("cakes or small pies").
This is an accurate reflection--the plural, pirogi, includes both baked
and fried pies, either large, both savory and sweet, or small, similar
to what is usually described with the diminutive "pirozhok", but also
simple cakes, such as the equivalent of a pound cake, coffee cake or
bundt cake or cakes that resemble what is now called in the US "bar
cookies". However, each category, aside from the large, usually
rectangular pies, has its own name as well. So it's a bit confusing,
especially when contemporary analyses get mired in anachronisms. No
antedating for pirozhok, however.

Pierogi is a different matter.

http://goo.gl/qp7cF
The story of a Siberian exile. By Rufin Piotrowski. London: 1863
Chapter 1. Of a Mission Into Poland. p. 16
 > On the whole he was not a bad fellow, this officer Eogatchev; and he
 > wound up by sharing with me the national dish of /pierogi, /laughing
 > all the time at the strong foreign accent with which I pronounced the
 > word: but he did me the justice to say soon after, that in the matter
 > of /pierogi /my good appetite had made ample amends for my bad
 > pronunciation.

I came across another mention of "pirogy", clearly in Polish/Ukrainian
context (Galitzia), much earlier, 1818. But the meaning is completely
different--instead of the national dumpling dish, this one turns out to
be a bland cereal-based soup. OED etymology mentions "pirogy" to be the
Slovak variant and indeed the region is close (Galitzia is a stretch
from Western Ukraine, through Slovakia and Southeastern Poland that used
to be controlled by Austro-Hungary long after it ceased being Russian
territory). But something else jumped out at me. The OED has an entry
for borsch--Russian beet soup (or, actually, a family of soups, as it
turns out), but no entry for the Polish Barszcz, which is nearly the
same thing (or, again, a family of similar things). Borsch is dated
1884, so this is a significant antedating.

http://goo.gl/g1V8R
Travels through some parts of Germany, Poland, Moldavia and Turkey. By
Adam Neale. London: 1818
Chapter 10 (Galitzia). p. 129
 > The best food which we met with at these inns, was the stewed veal of
 > calves, two days old perhaps, floating in a sour paste called /Barszcz
 > /pronounced /barchethe, /and beet root or cucumbers stewed and and
 > fermented like sour-crout, called /baraszki, /with /rosoli, /a gruel
 > made of flesh and oatmeal, or /pirogy, /a soup or pottage made of
 > barley, rice, and millet, or manna, /(Festuca Jluitans.) /These messes
 > are all very disagreeable, particularly the large overgrown cucumbers
 > fermented with salt and fennel leaves.

Aside from the mention of barszcz, there is a lot of oddity in this
passage. "Baraszki" means "little lambs" or "curls" (resembling
lambskin) and that usually represents solid dumplings. "Pirogy", on the
other hand, are filled dumplings. Neither one has any relation to the
soup, beets, cucumbers or gruel. In contrast, a traditional Polish
Christmas dish is barszcz with sauerkraut-and-mushroom dumplings that
may well go under the name baraszki (mixed dough drops), pirogy or
pierogi (ravioli-like) or uszki (tortellini-shaped "little ears"). So
the words appear to be correct, but not the description. Manna, in
Russian is the equivalent of farina or semolina hot cereal (i.e., Cream
of Wheat)--it's unlikely the local Galitzian variant was anything
different. And, of course, "fennel leaves" was actually dill. Never mind
that this is an average Brit complaining about quality of someone else's
food.

I'll leave the additional 1909 hit on "pierogi" as an exercise to the
reader: http://goo.gl/lfYVP

Remember the mention of spinach and sorrel, and the "family of soups"?
Well, I have a treat for you!

http://goo.gl/cJM3r
The Russians at Home: Unpolitical Sketches, Showing What Newspapers They
Read; What Theatres They Frequent; and How They Eat, Drink, and Enjoy
Themselves. By Henry Sutherland Edwards. 2nd Edition. London: 1861
Chapter 17. Eating and Drinking. p. 326
 > SECOND DINNER.
 > /a. /Green borsch with beef and eggs.
 > ...
 > (a.)//"Boil separately a piece of beef and some greens, either
 > spinach, sorrel, or the leaves of beetroot . Rub the greens through a
 > sieve, and put them into the beef-broth, which must also previously
 > have been passed through a sieve. Add pepper and salt. Boil and let
 > simmer. Then boil some eggs hard, cut them into pieces, and put them
 > into the /borsch./"//

Compare that with the OED definition: "A Russian soup of several
ingredients, esp. beetroot and cabbage."

I did spot one more piece of interest--antedating of zakuska (in
English, that is).

p. 320
 > The fact, however, is, that the pieces of caviare, salted fish,
 > cheese, &c., are about half the size of a die, and nobody takes more
 > than one; indeed, in the present day, ladies take none at all: nor is
 > the /zakouska /(as the preliminary entertainment is called) usually
 > served at small family dinners.

Turns out, the entire piece, containing both passages, shows up earlier,
in a magazine (pp. 278/1 and 276/1, respectively).

http://goo.gl/bqEEi
The National Magazine. Volume 5(5). May 1859.
Sketches and Studies in Russia. By H. Sutherland Edwards

But even the barszcz barrier can be broken!

http://goo.gl/4HnZ0
Travels Through Several Provinces of the Russian Empire: With an
Historical Account of Zaporog Cossacks, and of Bessarabia, Moldavia,
Wallachia, and the Crimea. By (Freiherr von) Pierce Balthasar
Campenhausen. London: 1808
Part 2. Krementschuk. p. 29
 > They have a kind of soup, however, which is made of groats and
 > vegetables, of which they are very fond: this soup is rather sour, and
 > is called borsch, from the name of the carrot which is boiled in it.


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