# All Slavic Languages: nuts - фъстък, arašidi, kikiriki



## Marijka

I came across the following words for *peanuts* ( on packaging of chocolate bar ) :
*kikiriki* - in Serbian & Bosnian (at least I think so, the letters are so small, that I'm not sure about the languages)
*фъстък* - in Bulgarian
*arašidi *- in Slovenian

I found it interesting. I would understand if someone said фъстък or arašidi, because in Poland we call peanuts *fistaszki, orzechy arachidowe *or* orzechy ziemne*. But I'm curious about *kikiriki*! Does this word have Turkish roots?

And, in your countries, what stands for *peanuts*? And for other nuts? Chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios?


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## Jana337

Kikiriki??? 

Anyway, here's another peanut thread I started some time ago. If other Slavic speakers can offer an explanation of the mysterious Czech name, I will appreciate it. 

Marijka, I tried to check the Turkish influence - I am afraid it is not true.

Jana


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## Brazilian dude

Could kikiriki be related to Russian kukuruza for maize?

Brazilian dude


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## Marijka

I've checked out here:
http://www.krstarica.com/dictionary/english-serbian/

*Kikiriki* exists in Serbian! And I love it  
Any idea of its etymology??


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## Marijka

O.K., but what *peanut* has got to do with it??

I thought, that there may be some Turkish influence ( it's common in Balkan languages), but I suppose there isn't. Turkish word for *peanuts* is *Yer fıstığı *


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## Nicca

Peanuts have nothing to do with kikiriki.     Although I definitely believe someone liked the word and used it to name a brand product. 

For example, the English word _kohuna _comes from the Spanish word _cojones._    Cojones means _guts_ and something else I don't want to describe here.     

However, English speakers love that Spanish word but have altered its spelling to _kohuna; _just like the Spanish _quiquiriqui _has been altered to _kikiriki _in your country.     

So next time, when you hear the English expression _Big kohunas!_ just remember that comes from the Spanish expression _Grandes cojones! _which actually means _Big Guts_.  

Sorry to disappoint you about you hoping that kikiriki was a Turkish word


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## Marijka

But it wasn't a brand of chocolate, it was one of ingredients :/


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## Thomas1

Marijka said:
			
		

> I came across the following words for *peanuts* ( on packaging of chocolate bar ) :
> *kikiriki* - in Serbian & Bosnian (at least I think so, the letters are so small,
> [...]
> 
> But I'm curious about *kikiriki*! Does this word have Turkish roots?
> 
> And, in your countries, what stands for *peanuts*? And for other nuts? Chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios?


 

Hello Marijka,

I’ve browsed a few dictionaries and found out that the word exists in Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian.

I also managed to learn that the word (kikirik) exists in Turkish and it means a bean pole, someone who is tall and skinny (it also functions as an adjective), it’s used in informal register.

I don't know if the word was borrowed from Turkish or all the way around.

The name sounds quite funny in Polish (at least to me) and saying it in Polish a rikitiki (the name may vary) occurs to me almost automatically. 


I also found something interesting, namely, *Con kikiriki* which is a Turkish ethnic slur for English (speaking?) people:


> *Con kikirik
> (Turkey) pronounced "John Kikirik", English person or Anglo-Saxons in general.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs
> 
> *


 

Does the peanut pack have the ingredients in Turkish on it as well?


Regards,
Thomas


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## Marijka

Thomas1 said:
			
		

> Does the peanut pack have the ingredients in Turkish on it as well?


 No, unfortunately it doesn't. But I've found word for peanut in Turkish (look above).

It's funny but also extremely interesting  

In majority of languages "peanut" is a variation of Latin name of the plant (Arachis) or means just ground-nut:
*Arašídy* (Czech), *arachidki, orzeszki arachidowe, orzeszki ziemne* (Polish)
*Erdnuss, Arachisnuss *(German)
But I found that: 
*cacahuate* (Spanish)
* cacahouète* (French) 
It sounds more like *kikiriki*, but still I'm not sure if there is any connection.


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## Brazilian dude

Amendoim in Portuguese.  

Brazilian dude


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## Seana

*Hey*
*Would you have a look what I found about kikiriki*
*Animal sounds: *the sound a rooster 
*Spanish:* kikiriki
*Greek:* kikiriku
*Bole:* kikir-kikir
*German:* Kikeriki
*Hausa:* k'ik'irik'i
Maybe *kikiriki* -as the peanuts in Serbian & Bosnian takes the name from a sound of the rooster makes.


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## natasha2000

Seana said:
			
		

> *Hey*
> *Would you have a look what I found about kikiriki*
> *Animal sounds: *the sound a rooster
> *Spanish:* kikiriki
> *Greek:* kikiriku
> *Bole:* kikir-kikir
> *German:* Kikeriki
> *Hausa:* k'ik'irik'i
> Maybe *kikiriki* -as the peanuts in Serbian & Bosnian takes the name from a sound of the rooster makes.


 
No, it doesn't. I cannot explain its ethumology, either, sorry. But *kikiriki* doesn't have to do anything with the rooster onomatopeia.


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## natasha2000

Marijka said:
			
		

> No, unfortunately it doesn't. But I've found word for peanut in Turkish (look above).
> 
> It's funny but also extremely interesting
> 
> In majority of languages "peanut" is a variation of Latin name of the plant (Arachis) or means just ground-nut:
> *Arašídy* (Czech), *arachidki, orzeszki arachidowe, orzeszki ziemne* (Polish)
> *Erdnuss, Arachisnuss *(German)
> But I found that:
> *cacahuate* (Spanish) CACAHUETE
> *cacahouète* (French)
> It sounds more like *kikiriki*, but still I'm not sure if there is any connection.


 
This sounds more logical....  The Spanish word comes directly from South American Indian languages. Maybe kikiriki is a very deformed version of cacahuete.


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## Seana

Hi 
Of course I supposed that rooster onomatopoeia kikiriki wouldn't be the root of peanuts word in Serbian & Bosnian language and it is little funny to find it there. It was a little joke. 
But whatever you could say even if kikiriki wasn't that root it means in many languages just everymorning cock-crow made by that poor semi-slept creature.
Greeting


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## natasha2000

Seana said:
			
		

> Hi
> Of course I supposed that rooster onomatopoeia kikiriki wouldn't be the root of peanuts word in Serbian & Bosnian language and it is little funny to find it there. It was a little joke.
> But whatever you could say even if kikiriki wasn't that root it means in many languages just everymorning cock-crow made by that poor semi-sleeped creature.
> Greeting


 
As a matter of fact, there is a name "kikirez" for a little rooster in Serbian. And in some parts of Serbia, onomatopeia for a rooster IS "kikirikiiiiiiiiiiiiii"...

On the other hand, it's really odd that I cannot find any logical explanation for kikiriki ethimology...  In some places it is said that this word came to Serbian from asiatic languages, but which asiatic languages, it beats me.....

Although I have never thought about it, now I am really intrigued... And I will continue my search until I find something about it.


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## Electron

I believe I read somewhere that the word "kikiriki" came with the actual plant from a country such as Azerbaijan (or one of the asian countries with a name ending on -an). 

 I'll try and confirm it, though.


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## Brazilian dude

> This sounds more logical.... The Spanish word comes directly from South American Indian languages. Maybe kikiriki is a very deformed version of cacahuete.


I think they say cacahuate in Mexico.

Brazilian dude


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## Seana

Hey natasha2000

When you find it out at least you will webcast on our thread as soon as it would be possible I hope .
I promise you that I do my best to find the root of *kirikiri* as well. 
I am not kidding it is really intrigued. But I am sure that being a Serbian native speaker you should find it pretty soon. 
Would you have a look what I have found on the net
Serbo-Croatian - *kikiriki *(groundnut, monkey-nut), beznačajna stvar, beznačajna osoba (pipsqueak).
Do you know what I think - it could be linked with China language and maybe you should little browse in it, because peanuts Portuguese traders took from Brazil and Peru to Africa by 1502 and it is known to have been cultivated in Chekiang Province in China by 1573, probably arriving with Portsailors who made stops in Brazil en route to the Orient.
Everyone knows peanuts don't belong in a bowl of Texas chili and China knows something ... KIKIRIKI.
Sorry for my mistake. I have noticed on the quote of my post uncorrect using pp from irregular form the verb sleep. 

Regards Seana


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## Marijka

natasha2000 said:
			
		

> Although I have never thought about it, now I am really intrigued... And I will continue my search until I find something about it.


Imagine me eating my chocolate and realizing that I'm actually eating kikiriki 



			
				natasha2000 said:
			
		

> This sounds more logical.... The Spanish word comes directly from South American Indian languages. Maybe kikiriki is a very deformed version of cacahuete.


For me it's quite reasonable, but still we don't have any proofs.

Maybe it would be easier, if we knew where did peanuts come from. I mean, how did they get to Balkans. I think name often follows "the thing". ( for example Polish word for tomatoes is pomidory, from Italian,since tomatoes came to Poland from Italy etc.)


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## natasha2000

In a Croatian forum I found this:


*



"....ja sam kod Anića našla etimologiju chicchi ricchi sa značenjem 'izdašne bobice'"

Click to expand...

* 

A person who writes it says that in (I suppose) some dictionary by Anich she found that kikiriki comes from Italian "chicchi ricchi" which means "rich berries".....
But somehow, I find it even more confusing....


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## Maja

I think that KIKIRIKI has nothing to do with a Turkish word. 
We DO have some  Turkish words, probable slightly altered, but only for the things that he had no name for and they arrived here during Ottoman's empire, especially terms connected to Islam (like khoja, jihad, Mohammed... or chibouk - in Serbian: hodža, džihad, Muhamed, čibuk) but that is the same in other languages as well, just like with other religions (Judaism, Buddhism) and cultural influences (Hindu spices etc.)

I found somewhere that kikiriki is "chicchi ricchi"  (from  Italian), meaning rich beans or smt similar, but I don't know if it is true!


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## Seana

In my opinion Maja's interpretation could be really closest and  reasonable.

*Kiki - chicchi - grain*
(Italian)

chicchi ...........(grandine)
chicchi ..........(grano, riso) grains, hailstone
chicchi...........(uva) grapes 

Compound Forms/Forme composte:

chicchi di cacao..............cocoa beans
chicchi di caffè...............coffee 


*riki - ricchi - rich* 


I found ethymology ( sours http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=rich+grain+&searchmode=none)

*rihhi *- ruler, powerful, rich

_*rijk,*_ Ger. _reich_ "rich," Goth. _reiks_ "ruler, powerful, rich
borrowed from a Celtic source akin to Gaulish 

_**riki*_ "powerful," from the Gmc. source. The evolution of the word reflects a connection between wealth and power in the ancient world. Of food and colors, from c.1330; of sounds, from 1592. Sense of "entertaining, amusing" is recorded from 1760. The noun meaning "the wealthy" was in O.E. 


So (maybe rich - because peanuts grain is really rich 
in many ingredient and elements)


Take a look what I found it in the Webster's Online Dictionary
with Multilingual Thesaurus for translation: *kikiriki*

Language ...................Expression English........Translation or Definition
Albanian......................kikiriki,.......................crow, cock-a-doodle-doo
Croatian .....................kikiriki........................groundnut, peanut.
Serbian.......................kikiriki........................peanut
(Latin Script)
Slovenian................... kikiriki........................peanut.


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## Vader008

In slovenian is arašidi,we don't use kikiriki so much.


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## dudasd

*Bratoljub Klaić* (a wonderful Croatian linguist) gives an interesting explanation in his _Dictionary of foreign words in Serbo-Croatian_ (I am translating):

*kikiriki *- compare: "tò kíki - Egyptian name of a miraculous tree sillikýpria, called by other people also kiki", Senc, _Greek-Croatian Dictionary _
 
etc., further he gives features of the plant.
 
Also I would add to list Macedonian *кикиритки*.


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## Cepkah

Maja said:


> I think that KIKIRIKI has nothing to do with a Turkish word.
> We DO have some  Turkish words, probable slightly altered, but only for the things that he had no name for and they arrived here during Ottoman's empire, especially terms connected to Islam (like khoja, jihad, Mohammed... or chibouk - in Serbian: hodža, džihad, Muhamed, čibuk) but that is the same in other languages as well, just like with other religions (Judaism, Buddhism) and cultural influences (Hindu spices etc.)



There are so many turkish words (about 10.000) and sufixes (lik-lija) which are still used and *NOT *only connected to Islam in serbo-croatian language as well (of course it depends on where you live) Ex: Čifteli, Čaršija, Meraklija, Dernek, Češma, Jastuk, Šeher etc.

We say fıstık as well as yer fıstığı in turkish. That's collaquial. Fıstık is an arabic loanword ''fustuk''. As it is used in bulgaria, i think it is also common in Bosnia.


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