pastrami

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπαστός“sprinkled with salt, salted”
2. Greek · derived fromπαστώνω“I salt”
3. Turkish · derived frompastırma
4. Ottoman Turkish · derived fromباصدرمه
5. Romanian · derived frompastramă
6. Yiddish · borrowed fromפּאַסטראַמע
7. English todaypastrami

Borrowed from Yiddish פּאַסטראַמע (pastrame), from Romanian pastramă, from Ottoman Turkish باصدرمه (modern Turkish pastırma), a variation of bastırma (“dried meat”), from root bas- (“to press”). It is sometimes claimed that the origin of the Turkish word is Greek παστώνω (pastóno, “I salt”), from Ancient Greek παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt, salted”). The English spelling ending in -mi is probably from the influence of salami.

Words from the same roots