I was watching the Scripps spelling bee tonight, marvelling at all the foreign words, especially French, that make it into an American spelling bee, when a very familiar word (to me) came up. It was the dish, “palatschinken”. I was surprised, as I didn’t know this was an English word. Also, this word has different spellings in different languages, all valid, so why did they pick the German one? I looked at a bunch of English online dictionaries but none contained the word “palatschinken”. Does the complete Oxford English dictionary contain this word? (I don’t have access to that) So where on earth do the spelling bee people come up with these words? What counts as an English word? How can anyone prepare for these bees, if at any time, they can throw a word at you from a random foreign language? Anybody out there know the rules?
Yes, with citations starting from 1929. It defines it as “In Austrian cuisine: a dish of thin pancakes, usually served with a sweet filling”. It offers similar but not identical definitions for palacinka (citations from 1884) and palatsinta (citations from 1932) - similar dishes from the Balkan and Hungarian culinary traditions.
I, too, was intrigued that they allowed it. While I know the word, along with the palacinka version better, I pulled down my Merriam-Webster Collegiate 11th, and neither one appears.
A number of words those seemed really dubious if your criterion was “words that are used in English.” A bunch of hapax legomena! I believe they specified that they were using Webster’s unabridged.
I have eaten in restaurants in England for 40 years.
I’ve ordered and eaten Yorkshire pudding, Welsh rabbit, Scotch eggs, Haggis (with neeps and tatties of course), Brussel sprouts and French fries.
I’ve eaten French, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch (rijstafel 
), German, Spanish, Russian, American, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian (genuine), Indian (chicken tikka massala), Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Australian.
I’ve eaten kangaroo, ostrich and shark.
I’ve eaten pancakes, crepes, griddle cakes, flapjacks, blinis and tortillas.
I have never heard of ‘palatschinken’. :smack:
That’s not surprising, I’ve never met someone not of Central European or German background who’s ever heard of it. It’s a dish from the peoples of the Austrian Empire, and it’s like a crepe or blini. The way I’m familiar with it, it would be spread with marmalade and/or sour cream, and rolled.
Is the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary as comprehensive as the OED? Does anyone out there have a Webster’s Unabridged they can check to see if the word appears?
“Webster’s” is not trademarked in the U.S. Anybody can publish a dictionary called “Webster’s Unabridged,” and many people have. I believe the official dictionary of the Scripps spelling bee is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged published by Merriam-Webster, the company with the most direct relation to Noah Webster. There is an online version, but it’s not free. I have access through my local library. They give the definition as “a thin egg batter pancake stuffed with jam.” The plural form as the same as the singular. The Etymology is “German, from Hungarian palacsinta, from Romanian placinta flat cake, from Latin placenta.” Note that placenta in Latin just means “flat cake.”
While I"ve eaten in many an ethnic restaurant in the US the last 30 years, I doubt I would know the word if I hadn’t eaten in a Hungarian restaurant in Ghirardelli Square back in the 1980’s, or through my wife who had a PhD in Russian History and was a great, adventurous cook.