FEASTING ON PIE

Historians have been debating for a while where the pierogi comes from. Theories range from the proposal that it's from China and was brought to Europe by Marco Polo to the idea that it was introduced by invading Tatars in the thirteenth century. However, thanks to etymology, the dispute may be put to rest, as the origin of the word pierogi conclusively proves that it had to  be from central-eastern Europe. The English term is a plural of the Polish word pierog, which meant "dumpling", and that's from Russian pirog, which could also mean "pie". Pirog, through Old East Slavic, traces to Proto-Slavic piru, meaning "feast", and if we go even further back, piru derives from Proto-Indo-European poi, "to drink". Since being borrowed into English in 1854, the word pierogi peaked in usage in 2002 and has been decreasing since.