krendel

English

Etymology

From Russian кре́ндель (kréndelʹ).

Noun

krendel (plural krendels)

1. A traditional Russian pastry made from a yeast dough and shaped into a twisted or braided ring.
   • 1866 March, H[arriet] C[atherine] Romanoff, “Roman the Reader. (A Russian Church Consecration.)”, in The Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, volume I, part 3, London: John and Charles Mozley, […]; and Parker and Co., Oxford, page 247:

     She was enjoying an early tea, with delicious new honey, thick cream, and the most tempting krendels imaginable.

   • 1911 August 20, Stephen Graham, “The White Night. Impressions of the Far North in Russia. From St. James’s Gazette.”, in The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif., section “A Riverside Inn”, page 249, column 2:

     It was a resort of boatmen and pilgrims, and outside there was a notice in washed-out blue, like an old sailor’s eyes: “Tea Place;” and for those who couldn’t read, a lively painting of a teapot, cups and glasses, rolls, krendels, fish.

   • 1911 September 30, Stephen Graham, “The Compensations of Illiteracy”, in The Living Age, seventh series, volume LII (CCLXX overall), number 3508, Boston, Mass.: The Arakelyan Press, page 881, column 1:

     Outside the baker’s shop, beside his printed name—printed name, by the way, often quite unintelligible to himself—is a very lively picture of white loaves and rolls, biscuits, krendels, baranki, cakes.

   • 1917 April, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, “The Black Monk”, in The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories (The Tales of Chekhov; III), New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, section I, pages 110–111:

     Both of them, feeling touched, went indoors and drank tea out of old-fashioned china cups, with cream and satisfying krendels made with milk and eggs; and these trifles reminded Kovrin again of his childhood and boyhood.

     [original: Оба, растроганные, пошли в дом и стали пить чай из старинных фарфоровых чашек, со сливками, с сытными, сдобными кренделями — и эти мелочи опять напомнили Коврину его детство и юность.]

     Oba, rastrogannyje, pošli v dom i stali pitʹ čaj iz starinnyx farforovyx čašek, so slivkami, s sytnymi, sdobnymi krendeljami — i eti meloči opjatʹ napomnili Kovrinu jevo detstvo i junostʹ.

   • [1920], Maxim Gorky [pseudonym; Alexey Maximovich Pyeshkov], translated by R[ochelle] S[lavyanskaia] Townsend, “Twenty-Six Men and a Girl”, in John A[lexander] Hammerton, editor, The Masterpiece Library of Short Stories: The Thousand Best Complete Tales of all Times and all Countries, volume XIII (Russian, Etc.), London: The Educational Book Company Limited, page 80:

     There were twenty-six of us—twenty-six living machines shut up in a damp cellar, where from morning till night we kneaded dough and made it into krendels and sushkas. […] We would rise at five o’clock in the morning, only half awake, and at six, dull and listless, we were already seated at the table making krendels out of the dough that had been prepared for us by our comrades while we were asleep. […] And the whole day long the simmering water in the pot where the krendels were cooking sang low and sadly, and the baker’s shovel scraped harshly and viciously against the oven as the pieces of boiled dough were thrown on to the hot bricks.

     [original: Нас было двадцать шесть человек — двадцать шесть живых машин, запертых в сыром подвале, где мы с утра до вечера месили тесто, делая крендели и сушки. […] Мы вставали в пять часов утра, не успев выспаться, и — тупые, равнодушные — в шесть уже садились за стол делать крендели из теста, приготовленного для нас товарищами в то время, когда мы еще спали. […] И целый день задумчиво и грустно мурлыкала кипящая вода в котле, где крендели варились, лопата пекаря зло и быстро шаркала о под печи, сбрасывая скользкие вареные куски теста на горячий кирпич.]

     Nas bylo dvadcatʹ šestʹ čelovek — dvadcatʹ šestʹ živyx mašin, zapertyx v syrom podvale, gde my s utra do večera mesili testo, delaja krendeli i suški. […] My vstavali v pjatʹ časov utra, ne uspev vyspatʹsja, i — tupyje, ravnodušnyje — v šestʹ uže sadilisʹ za stol delatʹ krendeli iz testa, prigotovlennovo dlja nas tovariščami v to vremja, kogda my ješče spali. […] I celyj denʹ zadumčivo i grustno murlykala kipjaščaja voda v kotle, gde krendeli varilisʹ, lopata pekarja zlo i bystro šarkala o pod peči, sbrasyvaja skolʹzkije varenyje kuski testa na gorjačij kirpič.

   • 1941 July, Marie Alexandre Markevitch, “Ritual Dishes”, in The Epicure in Imperial Russia, San Francisco, Calif.: The Colt Press, page 92:

     Tarts, Krendels, and Mazurkas are prescribed decorations for the Easter table, although they also appear on other occasions.

   • 1941 December, George Soloveytchik, “Leningrad”, in The Contemporary Review, volume CLX, London: The Contemporary Review Company Limited, […], published 1942, page 356:

     The next thing that caught the eye of the stranger was the universal custom, except in the case of the more expensive shops, of decorating the outside with pictures of everything sold within. The baker’s shop had loaves, bags of flour and krendels (special cakes); […]

   • 1967, Nicholas N[ikolayevich] Sergievsky, “Крендель”, in Idiomatic Russian: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Russian Idioms and Colloquialisms—with English Equivalents, Translations, and Explanations (IUP Paperback Library), New York, N.Y.: International Universities Press, Inc., published 1970, →LCCN, page 157:

     КРЕНДЕЛЬ Krendel, a sort of a sweetened white loaf or cake twisted in the shape of the letter B. Сверну́ться кре́нделем. To lie in a curled position, coll.; to curl up like a krendel. Подста́вить ру́ку кре́нделем кому́. To offer o’s arm folded in the elbow (as for support), coll. Кренделя́ писа́ть (выде́лывать, выводи́ть) (нога́ми). To sway in walking (in ref. to drunken people). coll. fam.; L. to write krendels with the feet.

   • 1969, Nikolai Zabolotsky, translated by Dorian Rottenberg, “Peasant Spokesmen”, in Vladimir Ognev, Dorian Rottenberg, compilers, Fifty Soviet Poets, Moscow: Progress Publishers, published 1974, →OCLC, page 195:

     And their knapsacks got undone as if by magic / Powdering the floor around with dust / And out of them too tasty to imagine— / Come home-baked krendels, little else but crust.

     [original: И котомки сами развязались, / Серой пылью в комнате пыля, / И в руках стыдливо показались / Черствые ржаные кренделя.]

     I kotomki sami razvjazalisʹ, / Seroj pylʹju v komnate pylja, / I v rukax stydlivo pokazalisʹ / Čerstvyje ržanyje krendelja.

   • 1971, Ilya Tolstoy, translated by Ann Dunnigan, “Study. Childhood Games. ‘It’s the Architect’s Fault.’ Prokhor. Anke Cake”, in Tolstoy, My Father: Reminiscences, Chicago, Ill.: Cowles Book Company, Inc., Henry Regnery Company, →LCCN, page 54:

     What sort of name-day would it have been without krendels sprinkled with almonds for breakfast and “Anke cake” in the evening?

     [original: Какие же именины без сдобного кренделя, посыпанного миндалем, к утреннему чаю и без анковского пирога к вечеру?]

     Kakije že imeniny bez sdobnovo krendelja, posypannovo mindalem, k utrennemu čaju i bez ankovskovo piroga k večeru?

   • 1987, Nikolai Leskov, translated by David McDuff, “A Winter’s Day”, in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Other Stories, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 370:

     And when I said to her: “Give them all up, or else turn to religion: that will help you,” she took my advice and went off to Kronstadt, but on her way back she bought some Viborg krendels and dropped in on the villain to have tea with him, and now she’s carrying another burden around and is as pleased as can be.

     [original: А когда я ей сказала: «Брось их всех вон или обратись к религии: это поможет», — она меня послушала и поехала в Кронштадт, но оттуда на обратном пути купила выборгских кренделей и заехала к мерзавцу вместе чай пить, и теперь опять с коробком ходит и очень счастлива.]

     A kogda ja jej skazala: «Brosʹ ix vsex von ili obratisʹ k religii: eto pomožet», — ona menja poslušala i pojexala v Kronštadt, no ottuda na obratnom puti kupila vyborgskix krendelej i zajexala k merzavcu vmeste čaj pitʹ, i teperʹ opjatʹ s korobkom xodit i očenʹ sčastliva.

Related terms

• kringle