Szama

term for food, a meal eaten at home or “out”. The word also appears in a diminutive form () – szamka.

The verb szamać is related to szama, which probably comes from the onomatopoeic, Proto-Slavic root *šam- / *šem- (cf. PSlav *šamati : *šemati (?) ‘to cause noise, rustle; to rub with something, to spin with something’). As indicated by the Great Dictionary of the Polish Language PAN, the meaning ‘eat’ is secondary, as it arose through “neutralization of the initially expressive definition of a loud way of eating food”.

The word szama also appeared in prison jargon, which led to the popularization of the word in slang and colloquial Polish.

Examples of usage:

1. Come on, mordo, let’s go for szama! /H/
2. The best szama in town KEBAB & ZAPIEXY /https://szamka.net/
3. [Szamka!] Great place!!! Tasty and cheap food! You can have a casual word with the ladies;) and most importantly fresh and fast for such food!!! Only a bit far from UG ehhh… /https://forum.trojmiasto.pl/Szamka-t506773,2,5482.html
4. I am active in social media and scroll TikTok under the pretext of work. I am a maniac for good szama and gym. I miss places in the world that I have not been to yet, https://goingapp.pl/more/essa-o-mozliwym-kandydacie-na-mlodziezowe-slowo-roku-i-jego-genezie/