Topical Guide 624
Mark Dorset
Language: Transformations Attendant to the Assimilation of Non-English “Loan Words” in American English, e.g., From Bologna to Baloney
Where Do You Stop? Chapter 28:
Ariane was at the stove, frying some slices of baloney for sandwiches.
Caroline Bologna, “Why Do We Pronounce ‘Bologna’ As ‘Baloney’?: A look into the history of the deli meat’s spelling-pronunciation divide in the English language,” Huffington Post:
Growing up with the last name Bologna (pronounced “bo-LO-nya”) subjected me to a fair bit of playground teasing (chants of “Caroline Baloney!” and “Phony Baloney!”). To this day, I still hear silly remarks from waiters, store clerks, bouncers and even TSA agents who giggle at the sight of my name on my driver’s license or credit card. And as a reporter, I occasionally get comments from dissatisfied readers along the lines of “The writer’s name is fitting. This is a bunch of baloney.”
I’ve never been too bothered by any of that, but I have always been curious: Why is “baloney” the accepted pronunciation of the word bologna? Or as some have asked in reverse, why is the word we pronounce as “baloney” spelled “bologna”?
As you may know, there is a city in northern Italy called Bologna […].
So, the “bologna” spelling comes from the Italian city it’s named for. As for the shift from pronouncing it “bo-LO-nya” to saying “baloney,” there are different theories.
Linguist Mark Liberman believes it follows the pattern of Italian words ending in -ia like Italia, Sicilia and Lombardia, which took on -y endings in English, like Italy, Sicily and Lombardy.
“My hypothesis would be that it’s an instance of the old pattern,” he told HuffPost in an email. “But it’s ‘Bologna’ not ‘Bolognia’, right?”
Liberman pointed out, however, that the Oxford English Dictionary says the city of Bologna was “anciently called Bononia” and has also taken the spelling form Bolonia. […]
As Zimmer noted, we know that the “baloney” or “boloney” spelling and pronunciation in reference to the sausage dates back to the 19th century. The earliest example he’s found is a piece of humor from 1857 ― a burlesque sermon containing the phrase “baloney sassage.”
See also:
Language TG 11; Dialect, Slang, Idiolect, Shibboleths, Jargon TG 137; Slang, Insults, Terms of Abuse TG 140; Slang TG 169; Languages: Learning and Translating TG 393; Idiolect, Private Meanings and References, Code Words TG 373; Idioms: Tug the (One’s) Forelock TG 459; Technical, Academic, Gibberish TG 492; Language in Translation: Russian to English TG 495; Idioms: English: “It’s Greek to me.” TG 595
Dan Nosowitz, “How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained: A linguistic exploration,” Atlas Obscurra
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