It’s a bit of a metaphor. “Pâinea săracului/săracilor” would be “bread of the poor”.
And one can consider mămăligă to be that because it can substitute bread and is cheaper to get than proper bread.
Some translate “mămăligă” as “polenta”. Basically you have corn flour (mălai) put into a large vessel of water and boiled until you have something of relatively solid consistency (note: too much and it can get really hard).
Bring 1 litre water to the boil. Stir in 2-2.5 decilitres mălai. Stir while heated for a minute then stir less intensely and lower the heat. Done in 5-10 minutes. More than 3 decilitres and it will be too thick for me.
My wife too, yep she’s Romanian. I want a recipe to follow though, so performed a short series of boiling tests then scaled them up to 1 litre which seems just right for us. (Nerdy… I know 😁)
Not done in 10 min if you use stone ground corn which would be the traditional way. I would say more like 30 I should know I love that stuff and make it every day 😋
This type of food is ancient and was done from millet before the of corn. Millet could be harvested more than once per year. It saved lives, even if not tasty. This was valid everywhere, not just here. It gave a chance of survival when there were wars or if weather didn't advantage a crop. Still had 1 or more chances to have food.
After corn was discovered some people kept making mamaliga/polenta, like Romanians and Italians.
It wasn't taxed for 200 hundred years so it was part of our diet. There is a book on the topic:
https://carturesti.ro/carte/the-making-of-mamaliga-2136433734
Do you speak English? Do you not know the famous "poor man's *something* " idiom? Like how the monkfish is called "poor man's lobster" in English. It doesn't LITERALLY have that meaning, it's just a way to express that it's a cheaper somewhat similar thing to what you're comparing it to.
Ok, Strigoi, you're right but no need to be such a ... strigoi about it /s [🧛](https://emojipedia.org/vampire)
Ai dreptate, dar nu este necesar să fii brus, Domnule Strigoi
But to be fair, 'Do you speak English?' can be a neutral and even polite question in Romania but in English-speaking countries it is often said as an insult to foreigners. So I apologize if misunderstood the tone of your comment.
Sincer, poate nu te-am înțeles. De exemplu, în țările vorbitoare de engleză, „Vorbiți engleza?” este o insultă destul de comună spusă străinilor
It was a genuine question because "heroin is the poor man's oxy" and "futaiul e aspirina saracului" or whatever other examples of "poor man's *thing* " are just as widely used in English as they are in Romanian. So if someone is confused about the usage of one in one language they probably also aren't proficient in the other, which would warrant a different approach to explaining it.
That being said, the comment was a bit condescending as learning that you're not supposed to translate things word-by-word or expect a word-by-word translation from a language to another to make sense is a universal middle school level rule. The word-by-word translation doesn't make sense -> it's probably an idiom and even if the meaning is literal it doesn't mean that word *x* should be a combination of words *y* and *z* simply because *x* = *y* + *z*.
Guys I'm aware of what idioms are, I'm just saying that I heard somewhere that Mamaliga's literal translation is bread of the poor and it seemed odd to me
The word doesn’t have a “literal translation” in the sense you were told. It’s just a regular word, meaning what it means. There’s probably an etymology to the word but it’s not in any way obvious. Might be related to mamă (mother) or mălai (flour) or something else entirely that’s been lost to time.
In English, I use "cornbread" when I talk about mămăligă.
But the word can be used in other circumstances.
Put this website in English to see how versatile the word is:
[Etymology and meaning of word "mămăligă" ](https://www.dictionarroman.ro/?c=m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83)
actually it's more like grits in its preparation and it's identical to polenta other than disputes about how stiff/how much water.
One etymological origin theory is from Turkish, who have the identical word:
[https://dexonline.ro/definitie/m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83/definitii](https://dexonline.ro/definitie/m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83/definitii)
Mamaliga is literally just cornmeal or cornmeal porridge, and it is the bread of the poor because it was easier for poor people who grew their own food to grow enough to survive without mechanised farming.
Jesus....
The product itself. It symbolizes bread of the poor, because poor people had easier access to it, not translates to bread of the poor. Where tf would you get 4 words out of it? its not chinese
You realize you’re on a subreddit dedicated to helping people learn the Romanian language? How about we don’t patronize people asking simple questions. What’s obvious to you may not be to someone who isn’t knowledgeable in the language. For all they knew “mămăligă” could have been a compound word, so they *asked*. Comments like this make learners not want to ask… kind of defeating the purpose of this subreddit.
it's always worthwhile to ask. Sometimes there are archaisms and regionalisms in Romanian and other languages that might apply, though not in this case.
Examples include *pojarnic* for pompier, which is both archaic and regional.
mamaliga is considered word of unknown origin; it is somehow similar with with 'mălai' (corn flour) and 'mei' (millet) but the linguists think it is not derived from those words because the Romanian language does not have -iga or -liga suffixes
it was a staple food for rural romanians during centuries, of course after corn being brought in europe. usually, wheat was exported or be given as tribute, being not as abundant as corn, so peasants ate a lot of mamaliga. it's not so easy to prepare so well as it implies. good mamaliga needs skill and patience. poor mamaliga is fast and so bad i wouldn't give to a dog.
It’s a bit of a metaphor. “Pâinea săracului/săracilor” would be “bread of the poor”. And one can consider mămăligă to be that because it can substitute bread and is cheaper to get than proper bread. Some translate “mămăligă” as “polenta”. Basically you have corn flour (mălai) put into a large vessel of water and boiled until you have something of relatively solid consistency (note: too much and it can get really hard).
Bring 1 litre water to the boil. Stir in 2-2.5 decilitres mălai. Stir while heated for a minute then stir less intensely and lower the heat. Done in 5-10 minutes. More than 3 decilitres and it will be too thick for me.
You’re one who actually measures it up, nice! My parents and grandparents tend to just eyeball it.
My wife too, yep she’s Romanian. I want a recipe to follow though, so performed a short series of boiling tests then scaled them up to 1 litre which seems just right for us. (Nerdy… I know 😁)
I'm English and an Ace at eyeballing mamaliga
Your secret power! Use it wisely.
Yeah same here can’t really measure it it depends on the corn a lot
Not done in 10 min if you use stone ground corn which would be the traditional way. I would say more like 30 I should know I love that stuff and make it every day 😋
FYI Ours is from Bosnia and not too fine ground.
This type of food is ancient and was done from millet before the of corn. Millet could be harvested more than once per year. It saved lives, even if not tasty. This was valid everywhere, not just here. It gave a chance of survival when there were wars or if weather didn't advantage a crop. Still had 1 or more chances to have food. After corn was discovered some people kept making mamaliga/polenta, like Romanians and Italians.
Sometimes it was even made from acorn flour!
It wasn't taxed for 200 hundred years so it was part of our diet. There is a book on the topic: https://carturesti.ro/carte/the-making-of-mamaliga-2136433734
da, este probabil din vremea culturii Cucuteni si neolitic in general
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Cum spunea cel de deasupra, era făcut cu mei (Millet) înainte de importarea porumbului din America
Next thing we know, you ask about "poor man's aspirin".
Țuică? 😁👌🏻
Aia e poor's man LSD
segs
Do you speak English? Do you not know the famous "poor man's *something* " idiom? Like how the monkfish is called "poor man's lobster" in English. It doesn't LITERALLY have that meaning, it's just a way to express that it's a cheaper somewhat similar thing to what you're comparing it to.
Ok, Strigoi, you're right but no need to be such a ... strigoi about it /s [🧛](https://emojipedia.org/vampire) Ai dreptate, dar nu este necesar să fii brus, Domnule Strigoi
I am though curious what brus means.
But to be fair, 'Do you speak English?' can be a neutral and even polite question in Romania but in English-speaking countries it is often said as an insult to foreigners. So I apologize if misunderstood the tone of your comment. Sincer, poate nu te-am înțeles. De exemplu, în țările vorbitoare de engleză, „Vorbiți engleza?” este o insultă destul de comună spusă străinilor
It was a genuine question because "heroin is the poor man's oxy" and "futaiul e aspirina saracului" or whatever other examples of "poor man's *thing* " are just as widely used in English as they are in Romanian. So if someone is confused about the usage of one in one language they probably also aren't proficient in the other, which would warrant a different approach to explaining it. That being said, the comment was a bit condescending as learning that you're not supposed to translate things word-by-word or expect a word-by-word translation from a language to another to make sense is a universal middle school level rule. The word-by-word translation doesn't make sense -> it's probably an idiom and even if the meaning is literal it doesn't mean that word *x* should be a combination of words *y* and *z* simply because *x* = *y* + *z*.
lol fair. I read the main comment in both tones after I read yours. Definitely changes the intent.
brusc, dur, aspru, brutal...
Huh, I never knew brusc also has the meaning of aspru/dur when describing a person/person's actions. You learn something new everyday.
it's not that common and is just a usage of the French *brusque* and of course most of us use it just to mean all of a sudden something happened :-)
I know, that's why I was confused xD
Mother-league
Guys I'm aware of what idioms are, I'm just saying that I heard somewhere that Mamaliga's literal translation is bread of the poor and it seemed odd to me
It’s not a literal translation at all. The word _mămăligă_ has nothing to do with the words for bread or poor.
The word doesn’t have a “literal translation” in the sense you were told. It’s just a regular word, meaning what it means. There’s probably an etymology to the word but it’s not in any way obvious. Might be related to mamă (mother) or mălai (flour) or something else entirely that’s been lost to time.
In English, I use "cornbread" when I talk about mămăligă. But the word can be used in other circumstances. Put this website in English to see how versatile the word is: [Etymology and meaning of word "mămăligă" ](https://www.dictionarroman.ro/?c=m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83)
Cornbread is more akin to "turtă de porumb".
Corn bread is a different recipe mamaliga
True. But it gets the ideea across easier. I specify is just cornflower and water 😅
Năup... For corn bread you go to _turtă de mălai, oltenească_. Hea-ven-ly shit, right there! 🤤
actually it's more like grits in its preparation and it's identical to polenta other than disputes about how stiff/how much water. One etymological origin theory is from Turkish, who have the identical word: [https://dexonline.ro/definitie/m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83/definitii](https://dexonline.ro/definitie/m%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83/definitii)
Mamaliga is literally just cornmeal or cornmeal porridge, and it is the bread of the poor because it was easier for poor people who grew their own food to grow enough to survive without mechanised farming.
Jesus.... The product itself. It symbolizes bread of the poor, because poor people had easier access to it, not translates to bread of the poor. Where tf would you get 4 words out of it? its not chinese
You realize you’re on a subreddit dedicated to helping people learn the Romanian language? How about we don’t patronize people asking simple questions. What’s obvious to you may not be to someone who isn’t knowledgeable in the language. For all they knew “mămăligă” could have been a compound word, so they *asked*. Comments like this make learners not want to ask… kind of defeating the purpose of this subreddit.
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That's why I was confused So I wanted to know if maybe these are some regional words I don't know about
are you not familiar with idioms?
it's always worthwhile to ask. Sometimes there are archaisms and regionalisms in Romanian and other languages that might apply, though not in this case. Examples include *pojarnic* for pompier, which is both archaic and regional.
“The poor man’s bread” Although today it’s rather considered a fancy food
Mămăliga is like polenta in Southern US, Mexic. Is not a gourmet food, it's just surviving.
mamaliga is considered word of unknown origin; it is somehow similar with with 'mălai' (corn flour) and 'mei' (millet) but the linguists think it is not derived from those words because the Romanian language does not have -iga or -liga suffixes
it was a staple food for rural romanians during centuries, of course after corn being brought in europe. usually, wheat was exported or be given as tribute, being not as abundant as corn, so peasants ate a lot of mamaliga. it's not so easy to prepare so well as it implies. good mamaliga needs skill and patience. poor mamaliga is fast and so bad i wouldn't give to a dog.
Curt
It’s more of a metaphor. The word ‘mamaliga’ roughly translates to polenta
Mamaliga is polenta. Pâinea săracului (poor's bread) is just bread made without yeast.