# All Slavic: moonshine - cамогон



## Encolpius

Hello, what do you call the illicitly-distilled liquor in your language? Thanks. 

*Russian*: cамогон
*Polish*: bimber


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## marco_2

Encolpius said:


> Hello, what do you call the illicitly-distilled liquor in your language? Thanks.
> 
> 
> *Polish*: bimber


 
Well, *bimber *is the most popular term, some people also use a Russian word *samogon*, more elegant is *księżycówka *(księżyc = a moon).


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## Encolpius

marco_2 said:


> Well, *bimber *is the most popular term, some people also use a Russian word *samogon*, more elegant is *księżycówka *(księżyc = a moon).



I like bimber most, it would be great to know its etymology.


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## marco_2

Encolpius said:


> I like bimber most, it would be great to know its etymology.


 
It is such a popular word but our philologists don't know exactly what its etymology is. I've just found in Wikipedia that this word appeared in criminal argo in 1920s and meant something stolen, which could be a _corpus delicti, _and it was most often a stolen watch ("bimbać" in colloquial speech means "to ring") but why was it transferred to a moonshine? - who knows...


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## TriglavNationalPark

I don't think Slovenian has a word for moonshine. People in Slovenia do produce liquor at home, but *domače žganje* is legal for home consumption.

Instead, you would use something descriptive like *nezakonito pridelan alkohol* (= illegally produced alcohol) or *nezakonito pridelano žganje* (= illegally produced liquor).


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## Azori

*Slovak*: domáca pálenka, samohonka (from Russian)


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## Encolpius

lior neith said:


> *Slovak*: domáca pálenka, samohonka (from Russian)



I checked the dictionary now and it says: samohonka and lavórovica. I do not know if natives know the latter, too. And there is *samohonka *also in the Czech dictionary.


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## sokol

TriglavNationalPark said:


> I don't think Slovenian has a word for moonshine. People in Slovenia do produce liquor at home, but *domače žganje* is legal for home consumption.
> 
> Instead, you would use something descriptive like *nezakonito pridelan alkohol* (= illegally produced alcohol) or *nezakonito pridelano žganje* (= illegally produced liquor).



Ever heard the verb 'švercati'? I think I remember that in Slovene the Austrian German word has been loaned ("schwärzen"), however when I search the www I only find BCS hits for that one.


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## Harambasa

Hi Sokol, 

This verb is similar to the Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian "švercovati" which means "to smuggle".


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## Harambasa

Encolpius, 

In my country Yugoslavia (including "once upon a time" Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and so on) we have the home made alcoholic drink called "domaća rakija". However there are many different types and names for this very cultural/traditional drink. (manastirka, gusačanka, Šljivovica, dujevača, klekovača, kajsijača... depending on the fruit/herb or the region of distillery). 

Yet I don't know if "rakija" is really an illicit drink since it has been a part of the culture for centuries.


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## TriglavNationalPark

sokol said:


> Ever heard the verb 'švercati'? I think I remember that in Slovene the Austrian German word has been loaned ("schwärzen"), however when I search the www I only find BCS hits for that one.


 
The verb *švercati* (colloq.) means "to smuggle." I'm not sure how it could be used specifically in the context of moonshine.



Harambasa said:


> In my country Yugoslavia (including "once upon a time" Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and so on) we have the home made alcoholic drink called "domaća rakija".


 
Just a minor clarification: the term *rakija* is not universally used throghout the former Yugoslavia. In Slovenia, the word is used, as far as I know, only in the Kolpa River valley on the border with Croatia (Kostelsko). Elsewhere, it's known as *žganje* (formally) or *šnops* (colloquially). Of course, then there are all the variations: *brinjevec* (from juniper berries), *slivovka* (from plums), and so on.

The words *žganje* and *rakija* simply mean "liquor," with no other implication.


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## Orlin

We also use домашна ракия (домашен алкохол seems possible, but I haven't heard it). This alcohol needn't be illegal because it is allowed to distill small amounts of alcohol from your own materials (fruits) in registered places for such a distillation, but selling such alcohol is definitely against the law - you may use it only for consumption at home(of course completely illegal distillation exists because even distillation in small registered places is object of taxation with a smaller rate). We alo say менте (counterfeit) for imitations of brand alcohol with unclear origin - it is usually illegally made and can sometimes be even dangerous.


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## sokol

TriglavNationalPark said:


> The verb *švercati* (colloq.) means "to smuggle." I'm not sure how it could be used specifically in the context of moonshine.


So it is used (and it means "to smuggle" in Austrian German too ).

We use it also for moonshine - as "schwarz brennen", but it seems then that this is not the case in Slovene (and BCS for that matter).


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## DenisBiH

Harambasa said:


> Hi Sokol,
> 
> This verb is similar to the Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian "švercovati" which means "to smuggle".





A minor correction - in Croatian it is švercati, not švercovati, according to HJP. In Bosnian both švercati and švercovati are allowed (RBJ).


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## werrr

Encolpius said:


> I checked the dictionary now and it says: samohonka and lavórovica. I do not know if natives know the latter, too. And there is *samohonka *also in the Czech dictionary.


In Czech, *samohonka* is used mostly in Russian context, or ironically. *Lavorovica/lavorovice* is used as well, that's a self-explanatory term.

But the Czech terms refer more to the home-made spirits than to the illicitly-distilled ones. When speaking explicitly about the illicitly-distilled spirits, we put *načerno pálený* in front of the term for the particular spirits.


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## Selyd

In east of Ukraine -
*самогон*
*самжене*
*табуретовка* (Stool)
*молоко спід скаженої корови* - Milk of the mad cow
*бімбер*
*дим* (The speech goes about a smoke in a head)
Наливай! Pour!


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## marco_2

Selyd said:


> In east of Ukraine -
> 
> *молоко спід скаженої корови* - Milk of the mad cow


 
In Polish we have a similar expression*: mleko od wściekłej *krowy, but is just an euphemism for alcohol, like, let's say "*woda ognista*" (firewater - a term which is thought to have been taken from Native Americans' language). And a liquor of bad quality is sometimes called  *chara, bajura  *or  *berbelucha*, depending on the region.


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## Selyd

In east of Ukraine - excuse, it is necessary to add
*самограй* - 
*чемергес - *
*борматуха* - плохого качества (bad quality)
Probably such variety because of the diverse people on mines.


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## dark_helmut

Encolpius said:


> Hello, what do you call the illicitly-distilled liquor in your language? Thanks.
> 
> *Russian*: cамогон
> *Polish*: bimber



In Serbia, and in the Balkans in general, home-making of distilled liquor is not illicit, but a characteristic part of local tradition where high-quality liquor is often made. Almost every large household with apple, apricot, pear or other fruit trees has its own home-made fruit-brandy. It is a matter of prestige for a household to have a quality domestic home-made brandy. The distillation apparatus is called *kazan* or (rarely) *kotao* and the drink is called *rakija.* Both words _kazan_ and _rakija_ came via Turkish. Kazan is ultimately of Persian origin, and rakija of Arabic.

The terminology considering rakija-distilling and rakija-drinking culture is very developed. The distillation process is called _pečenje_ (baking, roasting). One-time distilled rakija (with 25-35% alc.) is called _meka rakija_ (soft rakija) re-distilled one (45% to over 60% alc.) is _prepečenica_ (over-distilled). Final products of distillation of low % alc. is called _patoka_, while the first-received amount of liquor rich in harmful methanol is called _prvenac_ (the first). The rakijas themselves are called with -ača, -ica, -ovka suffixes combined with the fruit name. For instance, _šljivovica_ (plum brandy), lozovača (grape brandy), _dunjevača_ (quince brandy), trešnjevača (cherry brandy), kajsijevača (apricot brandy) etc. _Travarica_ (trava, herb) is a bitter rakija mixed with curative herbal roots or leaves.

The term rakija is used for both industrially made fruit brandy and home-made one. Home-made rakija is also called _domaća rakija._


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