Post by Joe from NYPost by Enrico il PentolaioCome diavolo si traduce "spiedino" in inglese?
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6324/spiedini.jpg
Il dizionario me lo traduce come "skewer" e come "kebab". Sorvolerei sul
secondo, ma "skewer" si dice?
The photo shows skewers of kebabs (or kabobs). The skewers are the sticks
themselves; the kebabs are what's skewered on them.
To clarify, just as spiedino is the tool which pierces the food, but the
word is also used to refer to the "dish" of cooked food on the piercing
tool, the word skewer is generalized in usage in the same way in the US.
However, Joey is right that the word meaning comes from the piercing
tool, just as in Italian.
The meaning of "kebab" in American English is often limited to that of
food cooked on a skewer, in an approximation of the Persian dish, shish
kebab. Americans typically don't identify as "kebab" the many other
dishes that aren't cooked on skewers that are Persian kebab, nor do they
often think it necessary to specify "shish kebab." It may not be an
accurate translation, but I think "kebab" means, in general, roasted
meat. If anyone speaks Persian or Arabic, please correct me if I'm
wrong. Some Americans use the word "kebab" when they refer to any skewer
of meat, fish, or vegetables.
Post by Joe from NYA skewer is also called a "spit" but somehow that word used in conjunction
with food isn't terribly appealing.
I think that most Italians would identify what Americans call a "spit"
as a "spiedo" and like the spiedo a spit is typically larger than a
skewer or spiedino, and often is configured to rotate in proximity to a
fire or other source of cooking heat. That is not to say that "spit"
cannot be or is never used by some people to refer to a piercing tool of
smaller size. I'm just trying to convey an idea of the typical usage.
