kartoffel

See also: Kartoffel

English

Etymology

From German Kartoffel.

Noun

kartoffel (plural kartoffels)

1. (rare, in German context) A potato.
   • 1868, Charles G[odfrey] Leland, “Breitmann in Battle”, in Hans Breitmann’s Party. With Other Ballads., Philadelphia, Pa.: T. B. Peterson & Brothers;  […], page 7:

     I’ll shplit dem like kartoffels: […]

   • 1957, News and Views, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, page 15:

     One man who reported that the occasion was the first time he had ever attended the races or bet on a horse in his life confessed to having donated forty kartoffels to the cause.

   • 1980, T[homas] Coraghessan Boyle, “Rock & Roll Heaven”, in Joe David Bellamy, editor, Moral Fiction: An Anthology, Canton, N.Y.: Fiction International, →ISBN, page 42:

     Neighbors roasted chestnuts, kartoffels and bratwurst, raised steins of black beer and stamped over the floorboards of the tiny apartment.

   • 2003, Trailblazer‎^[1], volumes 61–63, 70th Infantry Division Association, page 10:

     At the end of his speech and knowing what the Kriegies’ diet had been, he turned to the cooks and said “OK, start serving the kartoffels and turnips.”

   • [2004], Grandon E. Tolstedt, Stories of the Forties, →OCLC, pages 196 and 200:

     Big Jim Lockett is in command, and with the aid of about ten others enough items of food are collected among the 60 of us (bullion cubes, kartoffels, some carrots, salt, oleo, etc.) to make a good soup with seconds all the way around. […] We sat by the fire all-day and bashed. We fried kartoffels, baked kartoffels, boiled kartoffels and really filled ourselves up.

   • 2005, John Pritchard, “Shaw’s Notebooks—Bone Face—Shaw Runs Off—Sheep”, in Junior Ray: A Novella, Montgomery, Ala.: NewSouth Books, →ISBN, page 45:

     In the distance the patrol approaches at port arms, in a line of skirmishers, Teutonic, in search of Celts. […] I do not share their fondness for kartoffels.

   • 2017, Sam Jefferson, “In the land of the lotus eaters”, in The Sea Devil: The Adventures of Count Felix von Luckner, the Last Raider under Sail, London, New York, N.Y.: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 118:

     [T]heir first thoughts after finding out if they were still at war was of kartoffels and comic supplements.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Kartoffel, from Italian tartufolo, diminutive of tartufo (“truffle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑˈtɔfəl/, /kaˈtɔfəl/, [kʰɑ̈ˈtsʰɒ̽fəl], [kʰæ̝ˈtsʰɒ̽fəl]

Noun

kartoffel c (singular definite kartoflen or kartoffelen, plural indefinite kartofler)

1. potato
2. (slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) whitey (A derogatory word used about ethnic Danes, mostly used by Danish citizens of non-Germanic origin.)

Inflection

Declension of kartoffel

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	kartoffel	kartoflen kartoffelen	kartofler	kartoflerne
genitive	kartoffels	kartoflens kartoffelens	kartoflers	kartoflernes

Derived terms

• bagekartoffel
• læggekartoffel

Descendants

• → Icelandic: kartafla

References

• “kartoffel” in Den Danske Ordbog