{"id":20475,"date":"2021-01-22T16:38:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T16:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20475"},"modified":"2021-01-23T21:23:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T21:23:03","slug":"small-cakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20475","title":{"rendered":"Small Cakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An interesting Danish word I learnt recently is <strong>sm\u00e5kage<\/strong> [\u02c8sm\u028c\u02cck\u02b0\u00e6\u02d0j\u0259], which means biscuit or cookie, or literally &#8220;small cake&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/sm%C3%A5kage\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wiba\/2938917006\/in\/photolist-7epmme-7uFY8-7uFYc-7uFYa-7uFY7-7uFY9-5tCiQn-HCadUC-4YjtwZ-86KzuG-4AAuyz-91VEuc-4Eq5dC-dx2tJr-uTYsi-aTLXaZ-e9Fbo2-7pgxzA-buxLu3-5tGHCS-7pe2SZ-5uCnKG-4fg3DX-7p7XiC-EEkzh5-2hTSHPk-5AgBGY-3JouCB-qKFvdX-5r5mF8-5r5qKP-5r5ojr-5r582K-5r9phb-5r54qX-5r9oey-5r5qsk-2Z8tsC-dx2sPp-dx7Vff-dx7X6Y-dx7VR1-4ej18K-dx7WbJ-2g2Qtty-dx2rRp-adBwX8-p156UN-C9ApzW-5JTi92\" title=\"F\u00e6rdige sm\u00e5kager\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3046\/2938917006_74ab787f97_z.jpg\" alt=\"F\u00e6rdige sm\u00e5kager\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Dutch word <strong>koekje<\/strong> [\u02c8kuk.j\u0259], meaning cookie, is a diminutive of <strong>koek<\/strong> (cake), so you could say the it means &#8220;small cake&#8221; as well. It was borrowed into English and became <strong>cookie<\/strong>. This was borrowed back into Dutch as <strong>cookie<\/strong> to refer to internet cookies [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/koekje#Dutch\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The word <strong>kage<\/strong> [\u02c8k\u02b0\u00e6\u02d0(j)\u0259] (cake) comes from the Old Danish <em>kak\u00e6<\/em>, from Old Norse <em>kaka<\/em> (cake), from Proto-Germanic <em>*kak\u01ed<\/em> (cake), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*gag-\/*g\u014dg-<\/em> (round, ball-shaped object; lump; clump). The Dutch word <strong>koek<\/strong> comes from the same Proto-Germanic root [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/kage#Danish\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>cake<\/strong> comes from the same Old Norse root, and has been borrowed by a number of other languages  [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/cake#English\">source<\/a>], including Dutch, where it became <strong>kaak<\/strong> [ka\u02d0k] (ship biscuit) and <strong>cake<\/strong> [ke\u02d0k] (pound cake).<\/p>\n<p>In French the word <strong>cake<\/strong> [k\u025bk] refers to fruitcake (containing rum) or quick bread (a smallish loaf-shaped baked good). In Portuguese it became <strong>queque<\/strong> [\u02c8k\u025b.k\u0268], meaning a muffin or cupcake &#8211; the same word in Spanish, pronounced [\u02c8keke], refers to a cake, cupcake or biscuit.<\/p>\n<p>The plural form <strong>cakes<\/strong> was borrowed into Danish and became <strong>kiks<\/strong> [\u02c8k\u02b0i\u0261s] &#8211; a cracker. In German it became <strong>Keks<\/strong> (biscuit \/ cookie), which was borrowed into Russian and became <strong>\u043a\u0435\u043a\u0441<\/strong> [k\u02b2eks], which means cake, fruitcake, cupcake, dude or guy. This sounds a bit like the word <strong>kecks<\/strong>, which in northern England and Scotland is a slang word for trousers and\/or underpants, from <strong>kicks<\/strong> (breeches).<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/blog\/smallcakes.mp3\">audio version of this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><audio controls=\"\"><source src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/blog\/smallcakes.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><embed src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/blog\/smallcakes.mp3\" width=\"100\" height=\"50\"><\/audio><\/p>\n<p><em>(Some audio by <a href=\"https:\/\/ttsmp3.com\/\">TTSMP3.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, the photo above shows what I would call <strong>cookies<\/strong>. The one below shows what I call <strong>biscuits<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dwarrington\/13136249025\/in\/photolist-m1NHba-3jYzAz-bAf1NG-4beyj7-ayGGHB-4PPS7n-2j7DVHA-2f31DV2-aZzwVD-7CGuqY-5PCKf4-7ShHAZ-5REBwD-7FcXFd-84Cr1J-7x41ha-7vVAwS-2j4quGU-bpH74S-231EvuW-7wxWKC-84zkA2-2j4AcLo-8ekAYj-7J35m7-GvTD4w-7FcXHY-7VRhjF-6HYD5F-87D6eZ-7VRhkt-7K1RmW-7ShHA8-4XAQPx-4QCvHh-dhf2t9-bAeWbo-4Rsh8D-aC3goi-9635uR-7J35sU-9pzTKQ-bAeRW1-aegdiF-iPart5-7x41sk-7wAHPF-bCC3FZ-7LzFWr-84zkKr\" title=\"Biscuits\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7296\/13136249025_8d04917891_z.jpg\" alt=\"Biscuits\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Not everyone would agree with this, perhaps, and apparently some might call these <strong>biscuits<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/smokinblues\/2802074326\/in\/photolist-5gBn5j-zYyLEM-6sea8t-5qaM92-4HUfz-9PYqrH-aLG27c-aqEow8-7x41hF-dVPyr8-in3PBn-7VRhni-7FcXL3-bbg2wX-4Qyj9i-8ze2Lx-5RJTN7-7VRho8-22NWHsZ-7eDpPQ-4bd84G-7LHHiJ-4cWJ4Q-47DZwN-7MuZ2V-6Jrd1w-CKs47y-7F95JB-7CGur1-7MuZWa-7ShHzx-84Cr4E-aqH697-7MuZ8K-95rRES-7x41qD-bFbsCt-7VZZjx-7SkZhW-7VRhmn-m1NHba-3jYzAz-bAf1NG-4beyj7-ayGGHB-4PPS7n-2j7DVHA-2f31DV2-aZzwVD-7CGuqY\" title=\"biscuits\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3248\/2802074326_3496a1d176_z.jpg\" alt=\"biscuits\" width=\"640\" height=\"605\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>They look more like <strong>scones<\/strong> to me.<\/p>\n<p>What are <strong>biscuits \/ cookies<\/strong> to you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An interesting Danish word I learnt recently is sm\u00e5kage [\u02c8sm\u028c\u02cck\u02b0\u00e6\u02d0j\u0259], which means biscuit or cookie, or literally &#8220;small cake&#8221; [source]. The Dutch word koekje [\u02c8kuk.j\u0259], meaning cookie, is a diminutive of koek (cake), so you could say the it means &#8220;small cake&#8221; as well. It was borrowed into English and became cookie. This was borrowed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,102,104,107,111,116,10,36,41,44,64,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-german","category-language","category-old-norse","category-portuguese","category-proto-germanic","category-spanish","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20475"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20493,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20475\/revisions\/20493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}