Re: OT: Junk/Dim S(ui)m
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, September 16, 2003, 2:50 |
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On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 10:35:34PM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
> Isidora Zamora scripsit:
>
> > My first thought when I saw the it was that it closely resembled the
> > Russian word for "prayer rope," which is chotki. I'm sure there's no
> > actual connection between the two words, though.
>
> m-w.com says it's from old Polish "czaczko" of the same meaning.
The same meaning as "tchotchke", that is. Not "chotki".
By the way, "tchotchke" is pronounced /'tSAtS.k@/, and can also be
spelled "chachka"; according to the AHD, the latter is actually the
primary spelling, and "tchotchke" is a variant, which I find surprising.
(In usual Yiddish transcription, <ch> means /x/ and <tch> means /tS/).
-Mark