Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord \SMAWR-guhs-bawrd\ or \SHMAWR-guhs-bohrd\ , noun;
1. A buffet meal of various hot and cold hors d'oevres, salads, casserole dishes, meats, cheeses,e tc.
2. An extensive array or variety

This word dates to 1893 from Swedish smörgåsbord, which means "open sandwich table." Bord means "table" and is related to English board. Smörgås means "bread and butter," but it's a compound of smör + gås ("butter" + "goose" or "a clump of butter"), so smörgåsbord could literally be "butter goose table." Smör is related to English smear via Proto-Germanic *smerthan from Proto-Indo-European *smeru- ("grease").

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