# All Slavic languages: potato



## seitt

Greetings,

What is the Bulgarian for ‘potato’? Please give stress; it's fine if you write in Cyrillic.

Is it by any chance something like ‘крумпир’?

All the best, and many thanks,

Simon


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## marco_2

I'm not Bulgarian but I know it is *картоф *, plural *картофи*. "Крумпир" is Serbian / Croatian.


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## seitt

many thanks excellent


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## marco_2

I'm sorry, Serbian / Croatian and other BCS is *krompir.*


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## seitt

thank you - what is BCS?


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## marco_2

BCS - Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian / Montenegrin (I hope I named all of them  ); languages which separated from Serbocroatian (of course they had their own history - I wouldn't like to start any political discussion)


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## DarkChild

In some Bulgarian dialects, *kompir* is the word for potato.


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## Selyd

Моя кума каже карт*о*фли (в Україні).


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## seitt

In those Bulgarian dialects in which *kompir* is the word for potato, how is the word stressed?

*kOmpir *or *kompIr? **кОмпир *or* компИр?*


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## DarkChild

seitt said:


> In those Bulgarian dialects in which *kompir* is the word for potato, how is the word stressed?
> 
> *kOmpir *or *kompIr? **кОмпир *or* компИр?*


Stress on "o".


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## seitt

thank you - what about the stress on Serbian крумпир ?


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## marco_2

It's *krompir*, although post-stressed *i *is long - let native speakers confirm or not.

It would be an interesting thread to name different names for potatoes in Slavic languages and dialects. In Polish we have *ziemniak, *which is considered the most correct and *kartofel*, used by many people in everyday speech. But in our dialects you can also meet the words *grule, kobzale* and even *jabłka *(the last word means "apples" in standard Polish). In Ukrainian you have the words *kartoplia, barabolia, bulwa *and *bandurka. *How about other Slavic languages / dialects?


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## TriglavNationalPark

marco_2 said:


> It's *krompir*, although post-stressed *i *is long - let native speakers confirm or not.


 
It's *krompir* in Slovenian, but I believe it's *krumpir* in all standard forms of BCS. According to Snoj, the word comes from the regional German term *Grundbirne* (lit. "earth pear").



marco_2 said:


> It would be an interesting thread to name different names for potatoes in Slavic languages and dialects. In Polish we have *ziemniak, *which is considered the most correct and *kartofel*, used by many people in everyday speech. But in our dialects you can also meet the words *grule, kobzale* and even *jabłka *(the last word means "apples" in standard Polish). In Ukrainian you have the words *kartoplia, barabolia, bulwa *and *bandurka. *How about other Slavic languages / dialects?


 
One regional Slovenian term for a potatoes is *čompe*, but I don't know its etymology. I would assume its Romance, since the term is used in northeastern Slovenia near the Italian border.


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## sokol

Moderator not: topic changed to "all Slavic", to fit the answers given to the original question.
sokol



TriglavNationalPark said:


> It's *krompir* in Slovenian, but I believe it's *krumpir* in all standard forms of BCS. According to Snoj, the word comes from the regional German term *Grundbirne* (lit. "earth pear").


Yes, this is correct. It is still used in Austrian dialects (specifically southern/ eastern ones) - spelled /krumpan/ or /krumpian/ or similar (here /k p/ stands for unvoiced plosive, which is how the Austrian German plosives are pronounced, which is why they're perceived by Slavic speakers as /k p/; they represent /g b/ in standard language spelling) - where however "Erdäpfel" and "Kartoffel" are standard language.


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## seitt

Many thanks, most enlightening.


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## seitt

Dear sokol,

I'm still digesting your excellent answer. Please, for comparison, could you tell me how K and P are pronounced in Austrian pronunciation? Presumably you must have some way of distinguishing them from G and B?

Best

Simon


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## sokol

seitt said:


> Dear sokol,
> 
> I'm still digesting your excellent answer. Please, for comparison, could you tell me how K and P are pronounced in Austrian pronunciation? Presumably you must have some way of distinguishing them from G and B?
> 
> Best
> 
> Simon



Austrian /b d g/ always are unvoiced and not aspirated, and for this reason always will be loaned as /p t k/ in Slavic languages where plosives are either voiced or unvoiced (and always not aspirated).
The opposition of voiced vs. unvoiced does not exist in Austrian German, it's as simple as that.  (But if you'd like to discuss this further then you have to ask your question in German forum; here in this thread it is only relevant, and on-topic, insofar as it explains how "Grundbirne" could be loaned to Slavic languages as /k(r)ompir/.)


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## bibax

In Bohemia and Moravia we use many names for potato, many of them we share with other Slavs.

Botanical name: *lilek hlíznatý* (Solanum tuberosum, the Solanaceae family)
lilek =  nightshade, eggplant; hlíza = tuber;

The commonest and literary word is *brambor* (masc.), sometimes *brambora* (fem.), both words have nom. plural *brambory* (but other cases except voc. and acc. are different). The name is derived from *braniborský, Braniborsko* (= Brandenburger, Brandenburg). But some scholars disagree (another possible explanation: topinambur crossbred with bambol/bambule = bulb, tuber, pompom).

Other names:

*zemské jablko* (= land apple), abbrev. *zemák* (pl. zemáky), *zemče* (pl. zemčata, neuter)
*erteple (herteple, jerteple) * (from Erdäpfel)
*grumbír, krumpír, krumple, kromple* (from Grundbirne)
*kartofle* (from Italian tartufo/tartufolo via German Kartoffel)
*bandur, kobzol, kobzal* (used in Lašsko, perhaps from Polish or Ukrainian?)

The oldest name is *zemské jablko* (attested in Instrukce brtnická, 1667).


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## marco_2

bibax said:


> *bandur, kobzol, kobzal* (used in Lašsko, perhaps from Polish or Ukrainian?)


 
The word *bandury, bandurky*  is used in Ruthenian dialects, whereas *kobzole *comes from Silesian dialects.

In my previous post I forgot to mention the word *pyry *used in Great Poland (Wielkopolska).


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## Azori

Slovak:

standard (and the most common): *zemiak*, pl. *zemiaky*

other names: zemák, grumbír, krumpeľ, krumpľa, švábka, gruľa, bandurka, repa, komper, trompak, ertepla (there may be more)


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## texpert

Are these other names widely understood?


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## ilocas2

texpert said:


> Are these other names widely understood?



If I can speak for myself I know only *brambory* and *zemáky* and the word *kobzole*, but I didn't know that it means potatoes.


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## Duya

TriglavNationalPark said:


> It's *krompir* in Slovenian, but I believe it's *krumpir* in all standard forms of BCS. According to Snoj, the word comes from the regional German term *Grundbirne* (lit. "earth pear").



No, *krumpir *is only Croatian form. In Serbia and Bosnia, *krompir* is used instead.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Duya said:


> No, *krumpir *is only Croatian form. In Serbia and Bosnia, *krompir* is used instead.


 
I see. Hvala!



sokol said:


> Yes, this is correct. It is still used in Austrian dialects (specifically southern/ eastern ones)


 
I just noticed that according to _Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika_, *hruška* (= pear) also means "potato" in Carinthian Slovenian dialects!


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## sokol

lior neith said:


> Slovak:
> 
> standard (and the most common): *zemiak*, pl. *zemiaky*
> 
> other names: zemák, grumbír, krumpeľ, krumpľa, švábka, gruľa, bandurka, repa, komper, trompak, ertepla (there may be more)





ilocas2 said:


> If I can speak for myself I know only *brambory* and *zemáky* and the word *kobzole*, but I didn't know that it means potatoes.



What an impressive list!
All constructions with "zem-" obviously refer to them growing in earth; those containing "krump-"/"grumb-" are from Austrian German "Grundbirne" (as are "krompir/krumpir" etc.), "repa" I take it also means "turnip" in Slovak (right?) and thus is self-explaining (more-or-less - very broadly speaking  - similar shape and place of growth), "švábka" refers to the people who 'allegedly' introduced them (> Schwaben > Slovak and Hungarian name for Germans), "ertepla" is from Austrian German "Erdapfel, Erdäpfel", and about the origins of "bandurka" and "trompak" I have no idea at all.

PS: Slovak "brambory" (no idea about etymology either) is also used in Austria - "Bramburi"; here a Slovak loan in Austrian German it seems.


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## ilocas2

sokol said:


> PS: Slovak "brambory" (no idea about etymology either) is also used in Austria - "Bramburi"; here a Slovak loan in Austrian German it seems.



Brambory is Czech. I wrote about Czech words which I know as I thought that texpert's question is about all languages mentioned here. My grandmother knows *erteple*, this word was used when she was young, she told me.


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## TriglavNationalPark

I found some more Slovenian regional terms for potato (in addition to *čompe, hruška* and the standard *krompir* mentioned above): *r'pica, laška repica, krumše, krumpli, krampir*, and *krumpir*.


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## texpert

> PS: Slovak "brambory" (no idea about etymology either) is also used in Austria - "Bramburi"; here a Slovak loan in Austrian German it seems.


 
The etymology of _brambory_ was mentioned in the #*18* entry. So if the "Brandenburger" theory is right, the original German word gave name to something compeletely different and reentered other variety of German via Czech territory.


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## sokol

texpert said:


> The etymology of _brambory_ was mentioned in the #*18* entry. So if the "Brandenburger" theory is right, the original German word gave name to something compeletely different and reentered other variety of German via Czech territory.


Yes indeed, if etymology given there is correct the Austrian word must have arrived via Czech, that much is clear by its pronunciation.


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## Azori

sokol said:


> PS: Slovak "brambory" (no idea about etymology either) is also used in Austria - "Bramburi"; here a Slovak loan in Austrian German it seems.


"Brambor" isn't used in Slovakia, as far as I know. I'm sure I've never heard it here.


texpert said:


> Are these other names widely understood?


Out of those that I posted, I know only krumpľa, krumpeľ, zemák is understandable..


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## DenisBiH

Duya said:


> No, *krumpir *is only Croatian form. In Serbia and Bosnia, *krompir* is used instead.




Also let us not forget dialectal *k(r)ump(i)jer*. 

Here's some more from our old friend Skok on the issue of dialectal forms of that word:



> krumpir, gen. -ira m — krumpir (ŽK) = krompīr (Srbija, Vuk) = (pseudojekavizam) krumpijēr, gen. -éra (Lika) = (metateza i disimilacija r - r > l - r") kumplir, gen. -īrā (Šolta) = (zamjena dočetka -ir sa -iŠ) krumpiš (Valjavec, hrv.-kajk; ta je zamjena nastala prema slov. deminutivu krumpirčkd) = (sa disimilatornim ispadanjem prvog r) kumpīr (Lika) = kumpijir (Lika) = kònpír = kumpir, gen. -īrā (Šolta, Cres, Hercegovina) = kumpīr (Mošćenica, Istra) = kornpir (Brusje) = kompîr (Kosmet) »sinonim: krtola, pomme de terre, patata«.


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## texpert

So if I got it right, some variation of krompir (krumpir, kompir, krumpľa) is the word that is widely understood almost everywhere southeast of Bohemia, including parts of Austria and Hungary. How about Poles, Ukrainians and Russians?


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## iobyo

The Standard Macedonian word is _компир, _and I can think of a few regionalisms: _кромпир, __крампир__,_ _патата _and _к(а)ртул_.


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## bibax

Polish was already mentioned.

Russian:  *картофель* (standard) and  *картошка* (colloquial), from German Kartoffel, which is from Italian tartufolo = truffle (pignut). I do not know regional variants.

For completeness I add Hungarian. My grandmother always says *krumpli*, the standard word is *burgonya* (from Bourgogne). Regional variants: kolompér, pityóka (in Erdély, Sedmihradsko).

I know the following "Czech" names: *brambory, zemáky, zemčata, erteple, krumple, kobzole*. However I use mostly the standard brambory, sometimes kobzole (as it sounds funny).
There is a dish called _"Staročeské krumple"_ (roasted potatoes).


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## sokol

lior neith said:


> "Brambor" isn't used in Slovakia, as far as I know. I'm sure I've never heard it here.


Sorry for mixing that one up, Czech it is obviously. 


texpert said:


> So if I got it right, some variation of krompir (krumpir, kompir, krumpľa) is the word that is widely understood almost everywhere southeast of Bohemia, including parts of Austria and Hungary. How about Poles, Ukrainians and Russians?


I think it is one of those "monarchy words" which didn't travel beyond the old Habsburg Empire boundaries (or not far at least; as attested it _did_ travel further south - Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria) - I don't think it exists in Eastern Slavic, might though possibly in southern Polish dialects?

And a PS as a side-note - interestingly, in Austria "Grundbirne" ('Grumpan' etc.) is in danger of becoming extinct, it is still used in some dialects but loosing ground quickly to "Erdapfel" and "Kartoffel".


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## werrr

sokol said:


> "ertepla" is from Austrian German "Erdapfel, Erdäpfel"


Rather from Bohemian German. Erdapfel is the oldest word for potatoes attested in Bohemian German. Austrian Erdapfel is likely loan from Bohemian German or independent analogous calque.



texpert said:


> The etymology of _brambory_ was mentioned in the #*18* entry. So if the "Brandenburger" theory is right, the original German word gave name to something compeletely different and reentered other variety of German via Czech territory.


Not original German word. Brandenburg is a name of Slavic origin. And besides this, Czech word brambory reflects rather the original Slavic name for Brandenburg (Bramborska in Lower Sorbian, Bramborg in Low German).

So it's even more complicated.


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## sokol

I'm replying to the etymology question in a new thread in EHL.


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