Questions tagged [этимология]
The history and the origin of words and phrases.
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Why are "охотиться" and "рыться" with "ся"?
My understanding of the concept of возвратный глагол is simple:
учить себя (to teach oneself) → учиться (to learn)
готовить себя (to prepare oneself) → готовиться (to get prepared)
ложить себя (to ...
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What is the logic of the expression "только и всего"?
Some time ago I watched the excellent Russian movie "The Horde" with English subtitles and got intrigued by a few expressions from there, with one of them being "только и всего." The movie is on ...
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What is the original Russian word for a watermelon?
Wiktionary gives the following etymology of the word "арбуз" (watermelon):
From Turkic. Compare Ottoman Turkish خربز (harbüz), خربزه (harbüze), Tatar карбыз (qarbız), Bashkir ҡарбуз (...
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The origin of "за двумя зайцами погонишься"
За двумя зайцами погонишься, ни одного не поймаешь.
We have the same proverb, 二兎を追う者は一兎も得ず, which is considered borrowed from somewhere, so I am curious whether we borrowed it from the Russians or ...
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Etymology of "чёрта с два"
I believe I understand the meaning of the expression чёрта с два, but I don't understand its origin or grammar:
Why is чёрта in the accusative/genitive case?
Why is два in the nominative case after с?...
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The original word for a wild boar
I recently accidentally discovered that the Russians call wild boars by a word borrowed from Turkic languages - "кабан." The etymological dictionary by Preobrazhensky clearly states:
Заимств. из ...
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Why is the Russian informal phone greeting "алё" equivalent to the Turkish one?
I recently discovered that the Russian informal phone greeting, алё, precisely coincides with the Turkish one. When you hear "алё," you absolutely cannot tell whether it is a Russian or a Turk who is ...
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Why do Russians call their women expensive ("дорогая")?
My question is in the title of this post, and I do not know what else to say. I am just puzzled.
Okay, to avoid my post being put on hold for being too succinct, I will add a couple of naive thoughts ...
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The lexical root of the past tense forms differrent from the lexical root of the infinitive form
Does Russian have any verbs, whose past tense forms are based on the lexical root that differs from the lexical root of the infinitive form (by analogy with the Latin verb fero > tuli)?
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How did 'ликвиди́ровать' semantically shift to mean 'abolish' and 'destroy, kill'?
I was reading the etymology of the English 'liquidate', when I read on Wiktionary that
The sense "to kill, do away with" is a semantic loan from Russian ликвиди́ровать (likvidírovatʹ), ultimately ...
user9822
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The origin of ни пуха ни пера - к чёрту
Why do we say ни пуха ни пера wishing someone good luck?
The traditional response is also interesting. People are expected to say к чёрту.
What is the origin of the idiom?
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What is the meaning of 'ать [его] копалку'?
I am currently in the midst of translating a passage of Victor Astafiev's Где-то гремит война and I have come across a phrase several times that I cannot get my head around.
1.
Но нет у меня ...
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Origin of Валюта
I am curios about Валюта meaning currency. What is the origin of the word? Does it come from greek or latin or somewhere else?
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Origin of Валюта
I am curios about Валюта meaning currency. What is the origin of the word? Does it come from greek or latin or somewhere else?
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Why use Г in for example Горизонт and not for example Х? [duplicate]
I am just a happy beginner in Russian language, but to my ears Х sounds closer to H than Г.
Does anyone know why words like Horizon (Горизонт) choose Г instead?
Is there some historic explanation ...
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Origin of the word ''захолустье''
What is the etymological origin of the word ''захолустье''?
For me, the origin of this word is a big mystery of the Russian language.
In modern Russian, this word means ''a remote place, a place ...
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Why did the meaning of the loanword креол change?
The term креол was adopted in Russian a couple of centuries back. Just possibly, it was introduced by Nikolai Rezanov after he visited Brazil and California. The term's origin is described as the ...
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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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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-...
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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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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 ...
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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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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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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 ...
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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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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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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 North American authors for a European company.
Whenever students are asked to identify the number of ...
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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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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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What semantic notions underlie 'to see, show' and 'order'? [closed]
Please see the screenshot (original) with my question inscribed:
user9822
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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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"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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"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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Махать платочком - which specifically and why?
In literature, I can read some type of earlier-times custom, that women машут платочком to say goodbye (waive with scarf?)
Which piece of fabric did they waive and is there a special hidden original ...
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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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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", ...
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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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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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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Is "тройбан" derived from "ебан тремя"?
"Тройбан" is a slang word for "три" (a ruder version of 'three'). There is also a word "трояк" (less rude and more common). The affix "як" can be attached to ...
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Слова "дюжий" и "недужный"
Слова дюжий и недужный близки или далеки с точки зрения этимологии?
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