Packages of Goodness: Difference between revisions
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The funny thing is that if you showed the text above to anyone who actually lives in Poland they would be quite surprised by how many inaccuracies it contains. First of all, the correct spelling is ''“pączki”'', not “paczki”. It’s true that ''“paczki”'' means “packages”, but it’s a completely different (and unrelated) word than ''“pączki”'' (notice the little hook under the “a”?), which is the correct term for Polish doughnuts. Secondly, the correct pronunciation is more like {{ | The funny thing is that if you showed the text above to anyone who actually lives in Poland they would be quite surprised by how many inaccuracies it contains. First of all, the correct spelling is ''“pączki”'', not “paczki”. It’s true that ''“paczki”'' means “packages”, but it’s a completely different (and unrelated) word than ''“pączki”'' (notice the little hook under the “a”?), which is the correct term for Polish doughnuts. Secondly, the correct pronunciation is more like ''pawnch-key''{{czyt|pączki}} than ''poonch-key''{{czyt|punczki}}. Thirdly, prunes and apricots seem pretty weird as ''pączki'' fillings; everybody knows that rose-hip jam is the most traditional and most aromatic one. And finally, the chief ''pączki''-eating day is not Fat Tuesday, but Fat Thursday, six days earlier. | ||
<!--A Polish American who has immigrated to the country of his ancestors and now runs ''The Foreign Citizen'' Youtube channel, did a pretty good job two years ago explaining the difference between what Polish Americans think they know about ''pączki'' and what the actual facts are back in the “old country”. | |||
{{Video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozeLMbxEN0A|szer=400|poz=center|opis= The Foreign Citizen:<br>Pączki & Fat Thursday or Paczki & Fat Tuesday}} | {{Video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozeLMbxEN0A|szer=400|poz=center|opis= The Foreign Citizen:<br>Pączki & Fat Thursday or Paczki & Fat Tuesday}} --> | ||
It would seem that Americans who proudly claim to be Polish are quite clueless about real Polish culture. But are they? Perhaps there’s a good reason for these cultural differences? What if the Polish Americans are not entirely wrong after all? | It would seem that Americans who proudly claim to be Polish are quite clueless about real Polish culture. But are they? Perhaps there’s a good reason for these cultural differences? What if the Polish Americans are not entirely wrong after all? | ||
== Poonchkey or Paunchkey? == | == Poonchkey or Paunchkey? == | ||
Let’s start with the linguistic part. The Polish word for a doughnut (usually, in the shape of a flattened sphere, with some kind of filling in it) is ''“pączek”'' | Let’s start with the linguistic part. The Polish word for a doughnut (usually, in the shape of a flattened sphere, with some kind of filling in it) is ''“pączek”''{{czyt|pączek}}. The plural form, used for more than one doughnut, is ''“pączki”''{{czyt|pączki}}. The latter word has nothing to do with packages. That’s ''“paczki”''{{czyt|paczki}} (without the hook-shaped squiggle), which is the plural form of ''“paczka”''{{czyt|paczka}}, or “a package”. As you can see, the explanation you can occasionally come across in America that ''pączki'' are [https://twitter.com/BethelBakery/status/949661885393199105 ''“little packages of goodness”''] is as sweet as it is wrong. So where does the Polish word for doughnuts actually come from? | ||
”''Pączek”'' is a diminutive form of the word ''“pąk”'' | ”''Pączek”'' is a diminutive form of the word ''“pąk”''{{czyt|pąk}}, which is a botanical term referring to a flower bud or leaf bud. What do doughnuts have to do with flower buds, you may ask. Not so much, if you’re thinking about the American ring-shaped donuts, but it’s different with the ball-shaped Polish ones. Originally, the word ''“pąk”'' referred to anything that is round, bulging (''pękate''), swollen (''napęczniałe'') and about to burst (''pęknąć''). Ultimately, all these ''“pąk- / pęk- / pącz- / pęcz-”'' words are most likely of onomatopoeic origin, meaning that they’re supposed to resemble the sound of something swollen that is bursting.<ref> {{Cyt | ||
| nazwisko = Bralczyk | | nazwisko = Bralczyk | ||
| imię = Jerzy | | imię = Jerzy | ||
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[[File:Paczki.png|501px|center|Paczki vs pączki]] | [[File:Paczki.png|501px|center|Paczki vs pączki]] | ||
From the point of view of a modern Pole, the English-speakers’ confusion regarding ''pączki'' versus ''paczki'' is at least justifiable; after all, the English language doesn’t have any nasal vowels or the little hooks indicating them (as in ''ą, ę''). What’s more grating to many Polish ears, is referring to a single Polish doughnut as “a paczki” and to more than one as “paczkis”. Yet often, the same Polish people who would be ready to | From the point of view of a modern Pole, the English-speakers’ confusion regarding ''pączki'' versus ''paczki'' is at least justifiable; after all, the English language doesn’t have any nasal vowels or the little hooks indicating them (as in ''ą, ę''). What’s more grating to many Polish ears, is referring to a single Polish doughnut as “a paczki” and to more than one as “paczkis”. Yet often, the same Polish people who would be ready to criticize this grammatical error have no qualms about wearing ''dżinsy'' (“jeanses”), eating ''czipsy'' (“chipses”) or listening to ''Beatlesi'' (“the Beatleses”). Depluralization of loanwords is a common linguitic phenomenon and it often cuts both ways. | ||
[[File:Zasięg wymowy ą jako ų.jpg|thumb|upright|Geographic extent of Polish subdialects exhibiting the ''awn → oon'' nasal vowel shift. Based on a map by A. Krawczyk-Wieczorek, according to an atlas by K. Dejna.]] | [[File:Zasięg wymowy ą jako ų.jpg|thumb|upright|Geographic extent of Polish subdialects exhibiting the ''awn → oon'' nasal vowel shift. Based on a map by A. Krawczyk-Wieczorek, according to an atlas by K. Dejna.]] | ||
But the weirdest thing about how “paczki” became a Polish loanword in English is how English speakers (in North America at least) tend to pronounce it. Why is it | But the weirdest thing about how “paczki” became a Polish loanword in English is how English speakers (in North America at least) tend to pronounce it. Why is it ''poonch-key'' and not ''pawnch-key'', which would be so much closer to the original Polish pronunciation? Are the Polish Americans wrong to say the word the way they do? And even if they are, then why did this “wrong” pronunciation become so common? | ||
It turns out they’re not that wrong after all. | It turns out they’re not that wrong after all. ''Pawnch-key'' may be the accepted pronunciation in modern standard Polish, but modern standard Polish is a relatively recent creation, a product of state-run schools, radio and television that have worked for the past few generations to unify the language across Poland. In the past, though, each region had its own dialect and subdialects, used especially by the rural populace, and pronunciation differences between regions could be quite substantial. | ||
So was there a dialect were the standard nasal ''awn'' sound had shifted towards the nasal ''oon'' sound? Actually, there was quite a few of them. The ''awn → oon'' vowel shift could be found in dialects ranging from Ermland in the north, to the regions of Cuyavia, Greater Poland, Middle Poland, and all the way to Silesia in the south.<ref>{{Cyt | So was there a dialect were the standard nasal ''awn'' sound had shifted towards the nasal ''oon'' sound? Actually, there was quite a few of them. The ''awn → oon'' vowel shift could be found in dialects ranging from Ermland in the north, to the regions of Cuyavia, Greater Poland, Middle Poland, and all the way to Silesia in the south.<ref>{{Cyt | ||
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| wydawca = Instytut Języka Polskiego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego | | wydawca = Instytut Języka Polskiego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego | ||
| rok = 2010 | | rok = 2010 | ||
}}</ref> In all these regions, ''pączki'' was, in fact, pronounced: | }}</ref> In all these regions, ''pączki'' was, in fact, pronounced: ''poonch-key''. If you’re reading this, then I assume you don’t speak much Polish, but if you’re interested in examples, then you can find a few in the [[:pl:Punczki z powidłami na tłusty wtorek#Pączki czy pųczki?|Polish-language version of this blog post]]; look for ''“pónczki”'' or ''“punczki”'' (the spelling may vary). And all these regions produced waves of migrants who would settle in the United States or Canada, bringing their own pronunciation of ''“pączki”'', as well as the recipës, to the banks of the Great Lakes. | ||
== Fat Days == | == Fat Days == | ||
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| rok = 2018 | | rok = 2018 | ||
| strony = 156 | | strony = 156 | ||
}}</ref> But sometimes members of some local community, wishing to atone for their sins, usually when faced by some kind of disaster, would voluntarily vow to fast even more strictly than required by Church authorities; the entire community would then follow this more rigorous fast for decades until the local bishop, or even the pope himself, released them from the vow. This meant that fasting customs could differ from country to country and even from diocese to diocese. Generally speaking, fasting was very strict in the early Middle Ages and was gradually | }}</ref> But sometimes members of some local community, wishing to atone for their sins, usually when faced by some kind of disaster, would voluntarily vow to fast even more strictly than required by Church authorities; the entire community would then follow this more rigorous fast for decades until the local bishop, or even the pope himself, released them from the vow. This meant that fasting customs could differ from country to country and even from diocese to diocese. Generally speaking, fasting was very strict in the early Middle Ages and was gradually liberalized as time went by. But in Poland liberal novelties have always taken longer to take hold, so Polish people were considered particularly strict fasters for centuries. And Masovians, who lived in a northeastern backwater part of Poland, had the reputation of the kind of folks who would rather kill a man (especially one who broke fast himself) than eat cheese on a Friday.<ref>''Ibid.'', p. 173</ref> | ||
And so, Polish people used to fast not only on every Friday (as many still do), but also on every Saturday and Wednesday, on every eve of each of several dozen major holidays, on [[Good Humour, Good Health#Humoral Diet in Practice|Ember Days]] (three in each quarter of the year) and during the entire Advent and Lent (which also happened to be longer than they are today). On average, every other day was a lean, or fasting, day.<ref>''Ibid.'', p. 158</ref> Nowadays, Lent covers the period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) prior to Easter. But it used to start 17 days earlier than that. This additional 17-day period of fasting was then declared optional and, known as Shrovetide or Pre-Lent, it was treated as a time of preparation for Lent proper. Some of you may remember me mentioning Shrovetide in my post about [[Holey Breads|holey breads]], the pretzels and ''obwarzanki'' traditionally eaten on lean days. And also about how the Duchess of Masovia paid a visit to Queen Hedwig of Poland during Pre-Lent; when they dined together, Saint Hedwig ate only herrings and ''obwarzanki'' (ring-shaped breads), whereas the Duchess, who opted not to fast during that time, had chicken instead.<ref>{{ Cyt | And so, Polish people used to fast not only on every Friday (as many still do), but also on every Saturday and Wednesday, on every eve of each of several dozen major holidays, on [[Good Humour, Good Health#Humoral Diet in Practice|Ember Days]] (three in each quarter of the year) and during the entire Advent and Lent (which also happened to be longer than they are today). On average, every other day was a lean, or fasting, day.<ref>''Ibid.'', p. 158</ref> Nowadays, Lent covers the period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) prior to Easter. But it used to start 17 days earlier than that. This additional 17-day period of fasting was then declared optional and, known as Shrovetide or Pre-Lent, it was treated as a time of preparation for Lent proper. Some of you may remember me mentioning Shrovetide in my post about [[Holey Breads|holey breads]], the pretzels and ''obwarzanki'' traditionally eaten on lean days. And also about how the Duchess of Masovia paid a visit to Queen Hedwig of Poland during Pre-Lent; when they dined together, Saint Hedwig ate only herrings and ''obwarzanki'' (ring-shaped breads), whereas the Duchess, who opted not to fast during that time, had chicken instead.<ref>{{ Cyt | ||
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And what the heck does “Shrovetide” mean? It’s from the archaic English verb “to shrive”, which refers to the action of a priest hearing your confession and absolving you of your sins. “Shrovetide” is sometimes used interchangeably with “Pre-Lent”, but technically, it’s just the last three days before Lent – from Quinquagesima Sunday to Shrove Tuesday – when people were expected to confess their sins and get shriven. The Polish names for this period are ''Zapusty'' and ''Ostatki'' (“Last Days”). | And what the heck does “Shrovetide” mean? It’s from the archaic English verb “to shrive”, which refers to the action of a priest hearing your confession and absolving you of your sins. “Shrovetide” is sometimes used interchangeably with “Pre-Lent”, but technically, it’s just the last three days before Lent – from Quinquagesima Sunday to Shrove Tuesday – when people were expected to confess their sins and get shriven. The Polish names for this period are ''Zapusty'' and ''Ostatki'' (“Last Days”). | ||
In some countries, like France, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Fat Tuesday. In England, it’s Pancake Tuesday. And in Poland, it’s Herring Day (''Śledzik'' or ''Śledziówka''). But herring is a lean dish, so why would you celebrate the last day ''before'' Lent by having Lenten food already? You know you’re gonna be sick of it by the time Lent is over. Well, the reason is quite logical, actually. When you’re partying, it’s easy to lose track of time and not | In some countries, like France, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Fat Tuesday. In England, it’s Pancake Tuesday. And in Poland, it’s Herring Day (''Śledzik'' or ''Śledziówka''). But herring is a lean dish, so why would you celebrate the last day ''before'' Lent by having Lenten food already? You know you’re gonna be sick of it by the time Lent is over. Well, the reason is quite logical, actually. When you’re partying, it’s easy to lose track of time and not realize that you’ve slipped into Lenten territory. And, as they used to say in Poland, “on Shrove Tuesday the devil stands outside the tavern door and marks down those leaving after midnight.”<ref>{{Cyt | ||
| nazwisko = Gloger | | nazwisko = Gloger | ||
| imię = Zygmunt | | imię = Zygmunt | ||