Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/495

settlements know what a koláč is, and, having learned its Bohemian name, would not think of calling it anything but that. Excepting the poppy seed kind, I have never known an American who did not ever after rave about “koláčes” (the s is superfluous, since koláče is already plural,) once he had tasted them. Bohemian-English dictionaries give various entirely inadequate translations of koláč. Neither tart, cake, cookie, pie, or any other word can convey satisfactorily the idea of a genuine Bohemian koláč. Incidentally, it takes a Bohemian to make them rightly; I have, however, known of American bakeries that advertised “Bohemian kolaches” (sic) and have seen the word in American newspapers in connection with celebrations staged by Bohemian-Americans. No such celebration would be complete without koláče. For rohlík, the American words roll and crescent are poor substitutes. Here again I think almost any American who has associated with Bohemians would know what a rohlík is, but some, under the mistaken impression that rohlík is “roll” Bohemianized, prefer roll to the Czech word. The rohlík is rolled, and likewise crescent shaped, but the rolls and crescents sold by the average baker are nothing like rohlíky; neither is it a Pretzel, though rohlíky are sometimes twisted pretzel fashion and as generously salted. They are made of bread dough, slightly modified, twisted into a peculiar crescent shape (whence the name, roh = a horn,) brushed with egg yolk, salted, and quite frequently sprinkled with caraway or poppy seeds. Sometimes they are glazed with sugar, but this is an American-Bohemian innovation. The genuine article literally melts in one’s mouth, and even with poppy seeds, Americans are as fond of rohlíky as they are of koláče once they make their acquaintance. I have seen the word, pluralized as rohliks or rohlikys, in bakery advertisements, but nowhere else as yet in American papers. Both plural forms are used by Americans in speaking, the latter, a redundant one, being the more common. The poppy seeds (Czech mák) used in the confection of koláče and rohlíky are stocked by most American grocers and druggists catering to Bohemian trade, and I have known several American dealers who always spoke of the poppy seeds collectively as mák. Kmín (caraway seed,) equally in demand by Bohemian women for culinary purposes, has not had the same effect on vendors, though one or two non-Czech druggists of my acquaintance at least know what the word means. Incidentally, the English word cummin is a cognate. Kmínka is the Czech name of a liqueur made with caraway seed, the German Kümmel. Though this was never in high