Occasional Word in Merechi: shërúk

shërúk   [Se'4uk] v. (intrans.) be roasted over fire; be cooked; be fried, baked, toasted.

shërukidà   [Se4uki'da] v. (trans.) roast over fire; cook; fry, bake, toast.

Today's word (in both its forms) is one of two basic cooking words in mërèchi. shërúk comes from last week's word rúk, to char, plus the sufficiency prefix shë-, meaning "enough, just the right amount of"; so it adheres pretty closely to the expected meaning "to char just enough, to toast". The transitive is formed regularly by adding -dà.

By itself, shërúk/shërukidà can be a generic word for cooking or mean specifically roasting or toasting. With sàla, oil, and chàkapa, oven, we can get shërúk sàlali, "be fried with oil", and shërúk chàkapadi, "be baked in an oven".

Examples:

làcci shërúkipi kúshisöp'n: Cooked onion is sweet.

calëlómic sàlali ka'shërukidàhlp'da, ní kshíamëa hàhllap'da: Don't cook (fry) the meat in oil, but do it (roast it) over the fire.