# All dialects: Pretzel



## Malki92

Pretzels may be a regional snack, I'm not sure. I was having a conversation with a few Palestinian friends and pretzels came up. We couldn't quite think of how to say the name of this snack in Arabic, so they used the Hebrew word instead. How do you say pretzels in your dialect? 

Here is at least one word that's used in Palestinian Arabic: beegla/بيجلا (Hebrew loan word בייגלה)


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## elroy

"Bēgala" (not "bēgla") is _the_ Palestinian Arabic word for pretzels.  I wasn't aware it was a Hebrew loan, but either way, "one word that's used in Palestinian Arabic" is a misleading description.  "Bēgala" is as much a Palestinian Arabic word as "mlabbas" (candy), "būZa" (ice cream), "šukulāTa" (chocolate), and "baskōt" (cookies).


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## Malki92

Very interesting! Thank you.

And just a side note: The reason why I concluded that it's merely one way of saying pretzels in PA is because I asked other Palestinians who grew up outside of Israel/Palestine and they don't use this word. But they were familiar with it because of the fact that they have family in Israel/Palestine who do use this word. I figured there were other ways to say it in PA. Anyway, thanks again.


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## elroy

What do other dialects use for "pretzels"?


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## barkoosh

There's no specific name for it in Lebanon. Maybe because it's not very common.


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## cherine

Neither in Egypt.


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## elroy

Interesting!  So in everyday speech, if you wanted someone to buy you a bag of pretzels, you would have to somehow describe them periphrastically?  If so, what would you say?  

What does it say on pretzel packages?  (Maybe you've never noticed, but if you get a chance to check, let me know!)

I wonder if this lexical gap is found in other Arabic dialects as well?  Hopefully speakers of other dialects will post here.


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## tounsi51

We don't have such thing in Tunisia but since pretzel is close to French brioche the way it's baked and by its ingredients, and we already call brioche بريوش baryush in Tunisia, we could call pretzel baryush too


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## apricots

In Jordan بسكوت but it's really rare to find them in stores. Even the Cozmos don't have them.


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## elroy

tounsi51 said:


> We don't have such thing in Tunisia but since pretzel is close to French brioche the way it's baked and by its ingredients, and we already call brioche بريوش baryush in Tunisia, we could call pretzel baryush too


 Are you talking about the pastry?  This thread is about the crispy snack, which is nothing like brioche.


apricots said:


> In Jordan بسكوت


 I'm sure that in Jordan, as in Palestine, بسكوت is "cookies" or "crackers."  So this seems to be an imprecise designation because there's no word for pretzels.  (Kind of reminds me of إشارة for "traffic light.")

This thread has been enlightening.  Before this I would've never imagined a language (or dialect) functioning without a specific word for pretzels.


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## apricots

I followed up with my friend that there is indeed no special word and got "لا ما اتوقع" But like I said they're hard to find and are usually Turkish when you can find them. Since it seems they're just not very popular in Arab countries it makes sense that the PA word is from Hebrew.


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## tounsi51

elroy said:


> Are you talking about the pastry?  This thread is about the crispy snack, which is nothing like brioche.
> I'm sure that in Jordan, as in Palestine, بسكوت is "cookies" or "crackers."  So this seems to be an imprecise designation because there's no word for pretzels.  (Kind of reminds me of إشارة for "traffic light.")
> 
> This thread has been enlightening.  Before this I would've never imagined a language (or dialect) functioning without a specific word for pretzels.



better to check on line what is original pretzel

A *pretzel* (

 listen (help·info)) (German: _Breze(l)_) (

 listen (help·info)) is a type of baked bread product made from dough most commonly shaped into a twisted knot. Pretzels originated in Europe, possibly among monks in the Early Middle Ages


originally pretzel has nothing to do with snack... but i know you are talking about the industrial salted pretzel we find in shops, the hard one not soft


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## elroy

apricots said:


> Since it seems they're just not very popular in Arab countries it makes sense that the PA word is from Hebrew.


 They're very popular and common in Palestine/Israel.  I'm sure that if we didn't use the Hebrew borrowing, we would use something else.  We also have a word for bugles, which are far less common. 





tounsi51 said:


> better to check on line what is original pretzel


 I am well aware of the original meaning, which is why I asked you if you meant the pastry.  Are you saying you would use بريوش even for the crispy snack?


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## tounsi51

elroy said:


> They're very popular and common in Palestine/Israel.  I'm sure that if we didn't use the Hebrew borrowing, we would use something else.  We also have a word for bugles, which are far less common.  I am well aware of the original meaning, which is why I asked you if you meant the pastry.  Are you saying you would use بريوش even for the crispy snack?



For the pastry yes, for the snack no. It's like in Lebanon/Egypt, as said earlier.

We could call it "kaki". In Tunisia we have salty stick we call kaki, this is a snack


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## apricots

elroy said:


> They're very popular and common in Palestine/Israel.  I'm sure that if we didn't use the Hebrew borrowing, we would use something else.  We also have a word for bugles, which are far less common.



Bugles are everywhere in Jordan but they're just تشپس


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## Mahaodeh

I have to admit, I have no idea what pretzels are, so I typed the word in google and looked at the pictures. I'm still not sure what it is. There are so many different pictures.
This one:



Looks like something I've tried, I would refer to it as: هذا البسكوت الصغير المالح (I'm guessing it's salty?), simply because I've never really heard or read a name for it.

This one:




sort of looks like سميط, except we usually make it round with sesame on the top. I don't know if it's the same or not though.

I'd have to say that it's not really so common. At least not traditionally.


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## apricots

The top ones are called hard pretzels and the bottom soft pretzels in English, fyi


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## amikama

Referring to the images in post #16: both are indeed called בייגלה in Israel, especially the top one.

If the bottom one is round, thicker and with one hole instead of three, it's also called כעך. It seems that in Arabic it's written كعك, at least according to Wikipedia.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic بيچلا is the top one only.  The bottom one isn't common enough to warrant a name.


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## fdb

It looks like there is some confusion between pretzels and bagels.


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## elroy

How do you figure?  I don't see any confusion.


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## fdb

بيجلا is בייגלה is bagel. Or not?


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## elroy

No.


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## amikama

fdb said:


> بيجلا is בייגלה is bagel. Or not?


No.

This is בייגלה (pretzels):




This is בייגל (bagel):


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