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I recently began working through "Leveraging Your Russian with Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes" by Gary Browning, David K. Hart and Raisa Solovyova. In it, they list дача as being derived from the root дай give. Can anyone explain the derivation?

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  • can you provide some additional reference - like exact quote or screenshot or whatever?
    – shabunc ♦
    Jun 3, 2022 at 14:47
  • Дача is used as an example of a word derived from the root дай. Example sentence is:
    – mjiap
    Jun 3, 2022 at 14:51
  • У нас есть квартира в городе и дача в деревне.
    – mjiap
    Jun 3, 2022 at 14:53

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So, ok, "дача" is indeed a cognate of "дать", and, by the same token, is contextually related to another Russian noun, "подарок" - gift, something that is given. Initially "дача" referred to land given to someone (by local authorities) for their military, economical or other achievements. This meaning gradually shifted to that of a summer house in the countryside.

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  • Perfect, makes sense. Thanks!
    – mjiap
    Jun 3, 2022 at 15:02
  • Here is the link to an article (in Russian) describing the history of the word "дача". In short "дачи" were introduced by Peter the Great in 1700s to gentrify the surroundings of St. Petersburg m.rusmir.media/2021/07/05/petergof, later the original meaning was obsoleted - nowadays it is not given to you by kings 🙂
    – farfareast
    Jun 6, 2022 at 19:27
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There are other nouns derived in a similar manner, for example:

  • добыть (to obtain smth.) — добыча (smth. you have obtained)
  • портить (to spoil, to damage) — порча (spoilage, damage)
  • недоставать (to be missing, lacking) — недостача (the state of missing smth.)

Also cognates:

  • подать (to serve) — подача (a serve, as in tennis for example)
  • раздать (to distribute) — раздача (distribution)
  • отдать (to return) — отдача (a return, a recoil)
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  • Thanks for the info. Дача is a little different since it is not clear how a country house is related to give but @shabunc gave a great explanation.
    – mjiap
    Jun 4, 2022 at 13:57
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    "дача" is the process of giving or smth. that's given to smb. C.f. "дача взятки" -- the giving of a bribe.
    – mustaccio
    Jun 4, 2022 at 14:06
  • Ah, ok. So a different meaning altogether from country house. Thanks!
    – mjiap
    Jun 4, 2022 at 14:32
  • It's a country house (originally, a land parcel where the house would be built) that was given (дан, дарен) -- see this
    – mustaccio
    Jun 4, 2022 at 15:11
  • Отлично, спасибо!
    – mjiap
    Jun 4, 2022 at 16:21

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