Blin

Blin may refer to the following:

Blini

A blin (pl. blini) or blinchik (pl. blinchiki) is a type of thin pancakes which typically lacks a leavening agent; blin and blintchick are Russian names for crêpes.

Blintzes are one of the types of blini. Blintze is a thin usually wheat-flour pancake folded to form a casing (as for cheese or fruit) and then sautéed or baked.

Etymology

"Blin" comes from mlim Old Slavic mlinъ, (cf. блин, Russian for blin).

Overview

Blins or blini were symbolically considered by early Slavic people in pre-Christian times as a symbol of the sun, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or Maslenitsa, also called "pancake week"). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day. Blini were also served at wakes to commemorate the recently deceased.

Traditional Russian blini are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling water or milk. When diluted with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarniye blini. Traditionally, blini are baked in a Russian oven. The process of cooking blini is still referred to as baking in Russian, even though these days they are universally pan-fried, like pancakes. French crêpes made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, milk, and eggs) are also common in Russia. All kinds of flour may be used for making blini: from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently the most popular.

Bilen language

The Bilen language (ብሊና b(ɨ)lina) is spoken by the Bilen people in and around the city of Keren in Eritrea and Kassala in eastern Sudan. It is the only Agaw (Central Cushitic) language spoken in Eritrea.

Spelling of the name

"Blin" is the English spelling preferred by native speakers, but Bilin and Bilen are also commonly used. Bilin is the reference name arbitrarily used in the current initial English editions of ISO 639-3, but Blin is also listed as an equivalent name without preference. In the English list of ISO 639-2, Blin is listed in first position in both English and French lists, when Bilin is listed as an alternate name in the English list, and Bilen is the alternate name in the French list. The Ethnologue report lists Bilen as the preferred name, but also Bogo, Bogos, Bilayn, Bilin, Balen, Beleni, Belen, Bilein, Bileno, North Agaw as alternative names.

Phonology

It is not clear if Bilen has tone. It may have pitch accent (Fallon 2004) as prominent syllables always have a high tone, but not all words have such a syllable.