Pierogi - Origin and Name Variants

Origin and Name Variants

While dumplings as such are found throughout Eurasia, the specific name pierogi, with its Proto-Slavic root "pir" (festivity) and its various cognates in the West and East Slavic languages, shows the name's common Slavic origins, predating the modern nation states and their standardized languages, although in most of these languages the word means pie. In English, the word pierogi and its variants: perogi, pyrogy, perogie, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, pierogy, pirohy, and pyrohy, are pronounced with a stress on the letter "o". The Turkish word börek for a kind of pie or stuffed pastry may be a borrowing.

Pierogi are small enough to be served many at a time, so the plural form of the word is usually used when referring to this dish. In Polish pierogi is actually the plural, pieróg being singular. In Czech and Slovak pirohy is also the plural, piroh is singular. In Germany, this type of dumpling is called Pirogge in the singular and Piroggen in the plural, although sometimes the Polish name Pierogi is simply used.

Pierogi are popular among the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The West Slavic Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks, as well as the East Slavic Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians and Rusyns, and the Baltic Estonians, and Lithuanians all consume this dish, although under different names (e.g., kalduny in Belarus, pirukad in Estonia, koldūnai in Lithuania, and varenyky in Ukraine). In some East European languages, variants of this dish are known by names derived from the root of the word "to boil" (Russian: варить, varit', Ukrainian: варити, varyty), see "varenyky".

There is a similarity to Italian ravioli, culurgiones, tortelli, tortelloni, and tortellini and also to German Maultaschen and Bierock. Also there is a similarity to Ashkenazi kreplach. In Turkey, Transcaucasus, and Central Asia round pockets of dough with a meat filling are called manti, khinkali, or chuchvara. In East Asia, similar foods are served, such as Chinese wonton or Jiaozi, Korean mandu or Songpyeon at the Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, jiaozi, Japanese gyoza, Mongolian buuz, Nepalese/Tibetan momo, and Afghani mantu. A food item similar to this is prepared throughout India. It is known by the name "Ghooghra" (or Ghugra) in the state of Gujarat, "Karanji" in the state of Maharashtra, and "Gujiya" in many Hindi speaking states in northern India. It is typically prepared by stuffing grainy sweet flour, sweetened coconut and small pieces of dry fruit in a dough covering which is deep fried until crisp. It is quite popular during the festival of Diwali.