Gołąbki () is the Polish name of a dish popular in cuisines of Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

, made from boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of minced pork or beef, chopped onions, and rice and/or kasza. Gołąbki are often served during festive occasions such as weddings, holidays such as Christmas Day, and other family events. They can also be prepared using a number of various fillings instead of meat or rice, including mashed potatoes, boiled eggs, barley groats and others. In some variants, the cabbage leaves may sometimes be substituted with vine leaves or fermented instead of fresh cabbage leaves.

Etymology

is the plural form of , the diminutive form of ("pigeon, dove").

Max Vasmer Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; ; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian and German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages and worked on the history of Slavic, Baltic, ...

accepts this as the origin of the word, stating that the dish was so named due to similarity in shape. The Polish linguist Marek Stachowski finds this theory

semantically Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction between sense and reference ...

dubious. He instead proposes an Oriental borrowing, pointing out that a similar dish, aside from

, is known in the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. He mentions

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

"cabbage" or " cabbage roll" and

Old Armenian Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature fro ...

"cabbage" as possible sources. The word would have later been altered by

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

to resemble the word for the bird.

Other names

''Gołąbki'' are also referred to in English as ''golombki'', ''golumpki'', ''golabki'', ''golumpkies'', ''golumpkis'', ''gluntkes'', or ''gwumpki''. Similar variations are called '' holubky'' (Czech, Slovak), sarmale (Romanian), '' töltött káposzta'' (Hungarian), ''holubtsi'' (Ukrainian), ''golubtsy'' (Russian), ''balandėliai'' (Lithuanian), ''Kohlrouladen'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) or ''

kåldolmar A cabbage roll is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of stuffing, fillings. It is common to the cuisines of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and much of Western Asia, North ...

'' (Sweden, from the Turkish ''dolma''). In

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, ''holipshes'', ''goleptzi'' ''golumpki'' and '' holishkes'' or ''holep'' are very similar dishes. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the terms are commonly

Anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

by second- or third-generation Americans to "stuffed cabbage", "stuffed cabbage leaves", or "cabbage casserole". They are also referred to as "pigs in a blanket", not to be confused with pigs in blankets in British and Irish cuisine, and affectionately called "Hunky hand grenades."

References

External links

Gołąbki recipe from the Food NetworkStraight outta da Coal Region kitchen!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golabki European cuisine Polish cuisine Lithuanian cuisine Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Stuffed vegetable dishes Cabbage dishes National dishes pl:Gołąbki (potrawa)

Etymology

Other names

See also

References

External links