Questions tagged [этимология]
The history and the origin of words and phrases.
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…дались тебе эти макароны!
Как вообще возник оборот "далось тебе [это] XXX" ? Почему он означает то, что означает?
Т.е. я его использую, нутром ощущаю, но логически разложить этот оборот на составляющие, объяснить его механику ...
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1answer
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The origin of “В тридевятом царстве, в тридесятом государстве”
"В тридевятом царстве, в тридесятом государстве" ("in a Faraway Land") is a phrase that is used in numerous Russian fairytales.
Why is царство - тридевятое (3-9ое), and государство - тридесятое (3-...
4
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1answer
145 views
Are the Russian word “чары” and English word “charm” etymologically related?
Do "чары" and "charm" share a common etymological root?
According to the OED, "charm" originates (through French) from Latin
carmen ("song"), which is believed to originate from the Proto-Indo-...
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1answer
125 views
The origin of “на авось”
The Russian idiom сделать что-то на авось is very interesting indeed.
I know that it may be similar to the English idiom on the off-chance, which means relying on the remote possibility (if you can ...
4
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1answer
105 views
Этимология слова “черенок” в значении кошелёк, использованное Гоголем?
В произведении "Тарас Бульба" Н.В.Гоголя присутствует следующая фраза: "... снявши с него саблю с дорогою рукоятью и отвязавши от пояса целый черенок с червонцами".
Очевидно (и подтверждается ...
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1answer
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Cathedral, “Кафедральный”, why is ф in there?
After reading this article I got curious how ф is in place of "th" in English for the word Cathedral (Кафедральный)? Sounds almost like a coffee-place. (I know it is not Café or Kafee in russian but ...
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1answer
121 views
How to make up a name - eighth day of week? [closed]
I'm planning to give a speech in Russian where I'll say something like "imagine there's an eighth day of the week--let's call it ______."
Представьте, что прибавился еще день недели--назовем его ...
3
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2answers
202 views
Почему “Венера”, а не 'Венус"?
In Latin, Венера is Venus. A similar word "corpus" is translated as "корпус", not as "корпора" (or "корпор" if we take its gender into account). Why is then Venus not Венус?
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1answer
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Are “спорить” and English “spar” cognates?
Do спорить and spar have any common etymological root?
EDIT: I'm referring specifically to the usage of spar for training for a fight or engaging in an argument.
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1answer
147 views
Could a translation error lead to squares to not be considered as rectangles?
I'm reading a certain set of kindergarten/lower primary maths textbooks that is written by American authors for a non-American company.
Whenever students are asked to identify the number of ...
4
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1answer
172 views
Russian vs Latin
Is дом an import from Latin domus as a loanword, or is it the byproduct of the common indo-european substratum?
In my country, on the façade of courts, it's written DOMUS IUSTITIÆ, "the house of ...
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1answer
112 views
Name suffixes -ов, -ич
Are suffixes -ов and -ова on people's names equivalent of the suffix -son used in Germanic languages?
The suffixes -ич, -ича also imply the name of the father, on the patronimic. Are they, too, ...
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2answers
172 views
What semantic notions underlie 'to see, show' and 'order'? [closed]
Please see the screenshot (original) with my question inscribed:
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2answers
220 views
Is “культуры Энергетик” a set phrase based on the German “kulturelle Energetik”?
I recently found out that Pripyat has/had a place called Дворец культуры Энергетик (Palace of Culture Energetik). The phrase reminded me of the German term "kulturelle Energetik", which was used by ...
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2answers
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“Промышленники” working for the fur companies
The term промышленник described individuals seeking furs and the employees of 1700s and 1800s fur companies such as Shelikhov-Golikov and the Russian-American Company. Those workers were involved in a ...
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3answers
722 views
“Скатертью дорога” - was it ever a positive thing after all?
There is a well known phrase "скатертью дорога" which is sort of caustic version of "good riddance". There's also a common knowledge that this phrase initially meant something exactly the opposite ...
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3answers
646 views
Origin of name “Kamchatka”
I am seeking the etyomology of the name of the peninsula, Kamchatka. The only explanation I have found is in the old book "A shooting trip to Kamchatka", which suggests that it comes from a term ...
4
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1answer
418 views
Origin of “Котлин”
I searching for "kotlin" word definition, probably someone who knows Russiancan help me.
What does 'Kotlin' mean?
It's related to Kotlin Island? What the history behind this island and the name ...
12
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1answer
307 views
Why “Гиппократ” but “ипподром”?
Both these words have Greek origin, specifically:
Гиппократ (Hippocrates) comes from ίππος (horse) + κρατώ (I hold) = The one who holds the horses.
Ипподром (horse-race track) comes from ίππος (...
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2answers
314 views
Why is “томат” spelt without an “o” at the end?
I'm trying to understand how spelling works in Russian. Why does "томат" lack an "o" at the end, when some other words which I assume are derived from European loanwords, such as "пианино" or "метро", ...
5
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1answer
198 views
What's the etymology of the Russian verb “иметь”?
What's the etymology of the Russian verb "иметь"?
What is its root ("-им-" or "-име-")?
What was the root's meaning originally?
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1answer
419 views
Откуда взялось местоимение «её» и куда пропало «ея»?
Интересно было бы узнать больше об истории и этимологии личных местоимений третьего лица.
Помнится, я где-то читал, что они якобы происходят от слова «оный». Как вы считаете? Может быть, все как ...
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3answers
184 views
Pronunciation/etymology of иначе
I read on Wiktionary that иначе could have stress on the first or second syllable.
Which pronunciation is more common in your experience?
Why does such a common word not have a standard pronunciation ...
5
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1answer
239 views
Examples of compound words “hidden in plain sight”?
I've known for a while what the word "совсем" means, but only recently did I realize that the meaning stems from the fact that: "совсем = с(о)+всем" (entirely=with everything).
This is probably ...
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1answer
122 views
Is Интернационализм a French loanword?
It obviously seems to have a Latin etymology, but I wonder if it came into Russian from French.
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2answers
130 views
French loanwords ending in “-tion” [duplicate]
I've noticed that, not only in Russian, but in many other Eastern European languages that in French loanwords that end in "-tion", the suffix almost always appears as "-cija" (-ция). Examples include ...
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2answers
401 views
What is the etymology of “блондиться”?
There is a word which is used in Yaroslavl, "блондиться", here's a quote:
Блондиться – значит где-то долго находиться, отсутствовать. Но
оказывается, это слово чисто ярославское. Ни в каких ...
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2answers
211 views
Why Яковлев/Яковлевич with the intrusive -л-?
As the title says, why are the surname and patronymic formed from Яков Яковлев and Яковлевич instead of *Яковов and *Яковович? Where did this -л- come from? Is it simply because Яковлев(ич) is more ...
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5answers
451 views
Why does the word “мужчина” decline like a feminine noun?
In all languages with genders I know the word for man is masculine, and the word for women is feminine. While this is still technically true for the word мужчина, it is the only Russian masculine word ...
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3answers
1k views
Etymology of word “тройбан”?
"Тройбан" is a slang word for "три" (more rude variation of 'three'). I know that also exists word "трояк", less rude and more common; affix "як" can be attached to some other numerals to make more ...
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1answer
1k views
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1answer
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History of “Глаз на жопу натянуть” idiom
I am wondering about ethimology of an idiom "Глаз на жопу натянуть", which literally means "Pull an eye onto ass". Surfing through the internet I have found that it was used in Shirli-Myrli [Ширли-...
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2answers
119 views
Are the verb suffixes “-ate” and “-ать” cognates?
Are the verb suffixes "-ate" in English and "-ать" in Russian cognates?
I would guess that "-ate" comes from Latin and is also the source of the verb suffix "-ar" in Spanish. Latin and Russian are ...
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1answer
282 views
Этимология выражения “хернёй страдать”
На другом форуме кто-то поделился следующим инсторическим толи анекдотом толи былью:
В XIX веке военнообязанные, но достаточно обеспеченные мещане косили от армии следующим образом: покупали у ...
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6answers
1k views
Question about spelling “чьё/чья/чьи”
As far as I understand, "ч" is always soft. The letter "ь" usually denotes that the preceding letter is soft.
These two facts together seem to imply that the combination "чь" (just like "щь") would/...
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4answers
821 views
What are the lasting effects of communism on the russian language? [closed]
The history of a country probably heavily affects the language, therefore I would presume that some concepts in the russian language might differ from their counterparts in languages from western, ...
10
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1answer
278 views
Do the words дорогой (expensive) and дорога (road) have a common origin?
When learning a new language, I'm always looking for similarities between word roots - this helps me in remembering them. When learning Russian, I was surprised by the similarity of the words дорогой (...
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2answers
131 views
Derivation of word человецех
The phrase 'в человецех благоволение' means goodwill among men. What is the nominative of человецех? It appears to be old Russian.
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2answers
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“Жратва” и “жертва”, “жрать” и “жрец”
Мой первый здесь вопрос. Заголовок я постарался сделать забавным, но вопрос вполне серьёзен.
Друг спросил сегодня, нет ли общего происхождения у вышеозначенных слов.
У меня под рукой нет словарей, ...
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6answers
416 views
The exact origin of шёл
I'm aware of шёл's derivation from Proto-Slavic *xьdlъ, related to ходить, but that form still seems irregular — given that вёл, which has the exact same relation to водить, had e rather than ь in the ...
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2answers
917 views
What is the etymology of “грёбаный”?
Some of my friends use the word "грёбаный". Where does it come from? I suggested to myself that it could be somehow linked to words like "бан" or "баня", but it does not make sense in a sentence "...
4
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1answer
270 views
Origin of “пять”?
Does the word пять have an origin in an Indian language? I noticed that the word in Bengali sounds almost the same. See here for the spelling, and here for the pronunciation.
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2answers
419 views
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3answers
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Раз, два и обчёлся
I was just wondering what would be the origin of the verb обчёлся? Does it have something to do with закончил считать? I don't think we use other forms of this verb, but in this idiom. How old is this ...
6
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1answer
203 views
The etimology of the “-дцать” postfix?
For numbers between 10 and 40 Russians use дцать. What is дцать? A very Russian way to say десять? A word made of multiple parts, each of which do have a meaning, like дца and ть, as in еха-ть? (I ...
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1answer
1k views
Origin of прятки (Russian word for “Hide and Seek” game)
Does прятки, the Russian word for the game hide and seek, come from пяток (five), пятка (heel), or something else?
My guess is пяток, because of counting from 1 to 5.
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3answers
434 views
Why do verbs in past tense—and not other parts of speech—have gender?
In Russian, verbs in the past have gender information attached to them, so that “я спросил” implies that the asker was male, whereas “я спросила” comes from a female.
Why no other tenses have this ...
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4answers
191 views
Root of the words присутствовать and существо
Do these two words share the same root, or are there two different roots at play?
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3answers
265 views
Origin of “не фартануло”
There's a saying "не фартануло" which means something like "не повезло" or "не получилось".
However, where does it come from? There don't seem to be any related words that come to mind, and there ...
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1answer
84 views
