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Ljubljana, Slovenia

I wander how many names for pumpkins are there in Europe. So everybody is invited to explain the word in his/her language.

In Slovenian we say “buèa” (boocha). It is also a synonym for a head or somebody who is smart.


PS: Paolo don’t forget to explain in Furlan!

2/26/2004 12:13:48 PM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

I forgot about the character problems: è is c with ¡ above it (pronounced “ch”)
Jernej

2/26/2004 12:20:23 PM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Upps, maybe I should send a picture of "è" in the gallery.. for now let it remain a mystery :-)

2/26/2004 12:23:47 PM

Webster, NY

Pumpkinnook has a list for pumpkin in many different languages. Check it out if interested.

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/commune/language.htm

2/26/2004 1:03:05 PM

Belgium

in Belgium we call it "pompoen"

2/26/2004 3:04:38 PM

Norton, MA

In French it is pompion and in Spanish it is calabeza (calabayzah), hence my e-mail "gr8calabeza".

2/26/2004 7:35:54 PM

Norton, MA

Interestingly enough in Spanish it also means skull or head like in Slovenian.

2/26/2004 7:40:08 PM

Udine, Italy

in Italian pumpkin is zucca, in a local language (Furlan) is kooce, also in Italy synonym is the same that in Slovenia.
Paolo

2/27/2004 2:01:47 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

This is very interesting, also in Russian and Serbian TIKVA (“tickwa”) means the same.
I guess that already in ancient times people put much effort and thinking in pumpkin growing hence the name…
Poalo, how do you pronounce kooce? ..it seems similar to Slovene.
Jernej

2/27/2004 2:05:39 AM

Udine, Italy

exactely as writed: kooce
Paolo

2/27/2004 6:27:23 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

In Connecticut last summer we called them "Aborts". LOL

2/27/2004 8:16:22 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Paolo, is it like “co-ochae”? Anyway, you can tell when I come to visit your patch this season.

And Steve, I called mine the “RIT” (meaning an ass). I hope for better names in this season..

Jernej

2/27/2004 8:36:30 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Me too Jernej. Best wishes to you all!

2/27/2004 9:11:16 AM

Udine, Italy

Jernej, yes it's like coochae, you decided for a small pumpkins patch tour next summer? ahahah
Paolo

3/1/2004 2:02:03 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Well, a little explanation. In Spanish is calabaza, but in South America is usual to call it zapallo. At least for the big ones; they reserve the term calabaza for the thin hard skin small ones they use to drink.

Carlos

3/1/2004 2:37:11 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Paolo, sure, it will be the first time for me to see a coochae :-) Jernej

3/1/2004 5:36:35 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

It would be interesting to hear about the explanation of pumpkin names in Germanic languages: German, Swedish, … and yorkie, what about Celtic names?

I will get the name in Bask language from my colleague, which you may know, is the most “unusual” language in Europe. This means that it is probably the most ancient too.

Jacek you may add some more Slavic names too..

And to finish the basic compilation a Hungarian name would be need.

Thanks, Jernej

3/4/2004 4:57:00 AM

Southern Sweden

In Sweden we call it "pumpa"

3/4/2004 7:40:50 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

in the South we call it "punkin"...pronounced "pun cane" or the civilized version "pun kin"

3/4/2004 7:54:04 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Hey Jernej, the Vask is not only the most unusual language in Europe, but the ugliest I ever heard. It seems to be designed to crack the mouth to the inexperienced talker. Most of the words you can hear in their TV are new words taken from Spanish or French but with different ends and sound pretty funny. Actually they had very few original ones, even for the most common things. For instance:
Person, is persona in Spanish and personak in Vask.
Feelings is sentimientos in Spaninsh and sentimentoa in Vask.
Apple is pomme in French and poma in Vask.

Of course, you can find nice people even in the Vask Country.

Carlos

3/4/2004 9:02:36 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Carlos, I agree with the pronunciation problem in Vask but I am a little touchy in the discussions on languages of minorities. For example, we have some words of German and Italian origin because Slovenian was not allowed as official language for centuries. Fortunately we still have a unique name for pumpkin and I hope Vask language has it too.
Jernej

3/4/2004 9:25:13 AM

Belgium

On this website you can see how they say pumpkin in amny other languages

http://members.aol.com/ezpumpkin/language.htm

jurgen

3/4/2004 9:43:17 AM

Belgium

On this website you can see how they say pumpkin in many other languages

http://members.aol.com/ezpumpkin/language.htm

jurgen

3/4/2004 9:43:42 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

No sense of Southern humor huh fellas?

3/4/2004 9:59:16 AM

Knopp, Germany

Kyle, we love southern humor.....when we read some,:-) LMAO.

3/4/2004 10:04:02 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

oooouuucccchhhh!
I've been bitten....good one Owen :-0

3/4/2004 10:12:05 AM

Key West, FL

pum kin

3/4/2004 12:13:53 PM

Atlanta, Georgia

We call them "big mo fo's"

3/5/2004 3:28:28 AM

Wroclaw, Poland (51 N, 17 E)

I poland it is "dynia" (hard to write how to say it, but I think you will be able to imagine). Polish is VERY hard language with VERY hard gramatics etc.

As Don Quijot wrote about Vask language:

person = osoba (polish)
feeling = uczucie
apple = jab³ko
kind of bird (i don't know the english name) = grzeg¿ó³ka
lol

and one more thing (difficult even for polish ppl) :

W Szczebrzeszynie chrz¹szcz brzmi w trzcinie"

3/5/2004 3:46:19 PM

Wroclaw, Poland (51 N, 17 E)

damm this mesage bord doesn't show polish letters. argh!

3/5/2004 3:47:25 PM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Dinja is a synonym for melon in Slovene.
Jacek you sure understand Slovene words jabolko and oseba… By the way I bet that Slovene is even more difficult than Polish: we have besides singular and plural also “dvojina”, which is used when speaking about two persons. "W Szczebrzeszynie chrz¹szcz brzmi w trzcinie" .. something about running fast? Jernej

3/6/2004 7:56:41 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

Its Pompyon in Cornish.

3/7/2004 3:52:23 PM

Wroclaw, Poland (51 N, 17 E)

I understand some SLowenian words, but "W szczebrzeszynie (..)" is not about runing fast. It is about kind of bug making kind of noise in kind of grass.. :-)

Grzeg¿ó³ka (I gueas only 7 of 10 letters will be visible or displayed correctly :/ )

4/9/2004 7:27:21 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

OK, I promissed to get the name in Basque and here it is: Kuia. I will compile all the names and post them later.
Jernej

5/5/2004 9:39:04 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

One more for you in Welsh it is Pwmpen.

5/5/2004 10:19:57 AM