# All Slavic: Kres



## rushalaim

What does the word [kres] mean in different Slavic languages? Russian has [voskresenie] _"resurrection; passover; sunday"_ or [kresalo] _"flint"_


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## jasio

In Polish "kres" means "the end / limit of something", but is rarely used nowadays. Plural "Kresy" meaning "the frontier" referred to the lands close to the state boundary, where defence forces had to be located, so in various points in time they referred to different regions. Nowadays  the  word is used to refer to regions which were in Poland before WWII, but were lost for Soviet Union, and now belong to Ukraine (the name of which is related to another word meaning frontier, btw), Belarus and Lithuania, primarily in the contexts of Polish culture and history. A similar term had been coined for the western frontier, but it was never widely used.


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## rushalaim

In Semitic the word _"cross"_ means _"mark; to mark something"_. Maybe English _"cross"_ relates with Slavic _"kres"_


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## eeladvised

In Slovenian, "kres" is a bonfire, and also June 24 as people were traditionally lighting bonfires on that day. There are also some related words, "kresilo" = a flint to make fire with, "kresati" = to make fire.


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## rushalaim

Etruscan amulet of the cross of suns in Louvre, apparently those suns are vernal/autumn equinoxes and summer/winter solstices, dates from 700 B.C. 
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d1/15/e9/d115e9a82e7e663f1196a57bc085e63b.jpg


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## Милан

In Serbian I can think of these verbs: 
Кресати, креснути = to ignite (а match) but it's much more used in slang = to fuck
There is one (turbofolk) song called 'Šibica' (a match) and the refrain goes like this 'Šibice moja, ja ću da te kresnem' ='My match, I will ignite you'  
скресати=to reduce, to cut, to trim, to speak openly

If we talk only about the word kres it means bonfire but it is not used much.
Kрес шема, крес комбинација = 'friends with benefits'


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## jasio

eeladvised said:


> In Slovenian, "kres" is a bonfire, and also June 24 as people were traditionally lighting bonfires on that day. There are also some related words, "kresilo" = a flint to make fire with, "kresati" = to make fire.


Actually, there are a few similar words in Polish with this stem, but since they are rather occasionally used nowadays, and are pronounced differently, they didn't immediately come to my mind:

(s)krzesać - ignite (nowadays mainly as a poetic metaphore)

krzesiwo - fire striker

krzesany - a speciifc highlanders' folk dance; the name comes from hitting one foot against the other ("krzesanie") whenever when the leg pattern is reversed

krzemień - flint (stone)
There are also "krzesło" (chair) and "krzesak" (sort of a knife used in a garden, http://s.archiwumalle.pl/1/2073539798.jpg), but they may come from different origins.

FYI: "Rz", albeit nowadays is pronounced as "ž" or "š", is an equivalent of Czech "ř", as both come from old Slavic soft "r", so it's regularly used in words like "rzeka", "rzecz", "korzeń", "morze", etc.


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## bibax

Czech:

vzkříšení (or zmrtvýchvstání) = resurrection [of J. Ch.], воскресение (восстание из мёртвых);
from the verb křísiti = to resuscitate, воскрешать;
e.g. křiste mrtvé = raise the dead, воскрешайте мёртвых;

křesadlo = (flint and steel), огниво, кресало;
from the verb křesati = to strike (a light), высечь (?);

kresliti = to draw, рисовать;
kresba, výkres, nákres = drawing, рисунок, чертёж;
okres = county, shire, district, округ;

křeslo = armchair, easy chair, кресло;

[křemen = SiO2, кремень > křemík, кремний = Si]

All these words have probably different etymology.


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## Michalko

Slovak has basically the same words as Czech here but a bit different, vzkriesenie, kriesiť, kresadlo, kresba, okres, kreslo, kremeň, kremník, respectively. The meaning of them is the same as in Czech.


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## marco_2

jasio said:


> Actually, there are a few similar words in Polish with this stem, but since they are rather occasionally used nowadays, and are pronounced differently, they didn't immediately come to my mind:
> 
> (s)krzesać - ignite (nowadays mainly as a poetic metaphore)
> 
> krzesiwo - fire striker
> 
> krzesany - a speciifc highlanders' folk dance; the name comes from hitting one foot against the other ("krzesanie") whenever when the leg pattern is reversed
> 
> krzemień - flint (stone)
> There are also "krzesło" (chair) and "krzesak" (sort of a knife used in a garden, http://s.archiwumalle.pl/1/2073539798.jpg), but they may come from different origins.
> 
> FYI: "Rz", albeit nowadays is pronounced as "ž" or "š", is an equivalent of Czech "ř", as both come from old Slavic soft "r", so it's regularly used in words like "rzeka", "rzecz", "korzeń", "morze", etc.





bibax said:


> Czech:
> 
> vzkříšení (or zmrtvýchvstání) = resurrection [of J. Ch.], воскресение (восстание из мёртвых);
> from the verb křísiti = to resuscitate, воскрешать;
> e.g. křiste mrtvé = raise the dead, воскрешайте мёртвых;
> 
> křesadlo = (flint and steel), огниво, кресало;
> from the verb křesati = to strike (a light), высечь (?);
> 
> kresliti = to draw, рисовать;
> kresba, výkres, nákres = drawing, рисунок, чертёж;
> okres = county, shire, district, округ;
> 
> křeslo = armchair, easy chair, кресло;
> 
> [křemen = SiO2, кремень > křemík, кремний = Si]
> 
> All these words have probably different etymology.



In Polish, apart from jasio's examples, we also have the verb *wskrzesić *(to bring to life, to resurect), nowadays used rather in religious contexts.


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## 10saso

To complete the Slovenian version; as it was rightly explained by eeladvised,
perhaps an association with things that are especially 'fiery', since common 'kres' is a very big fire with much traditional folk meaning and stories behind it,
there are also fiery activities in human life.
- thus from this word some adjectives are, I think, derived.

For an example:

-Kresniti [nekoga] - would translate to (not linguistically correct) 'to hit [somebody or something]', also
-[te] kresnem [ v/na xxx] - would very vulgarly and also linguistically incorrectly translate to '_ will f*** you [in/on xxx]'.

The latter is, in my opinion, a very imaginative way of saying 'f*** you/off' to somebody or to flirt with a person.

The common use is quite open to new such ways of expressing something that is emotionally or physically 'fiery'._


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## Teukor

Slovak ED by Králik states that the verb 'kriesiť' (resurrect, resuscitate) descending from PSl. *krěsiti/kresiti might be from the same root like PSl. *kresati 'hew, strike a spark (of a new life)'.


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## cHr0mChIk

As for Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin, beside the previously mentioned verb "kresati" [imperf.] / "kresnuti" [perf.];
there is also a noun "kresivo" which means "tinder" (a stone using for creating sparks and starting a fire),

then, there's also (as the 1st post mentions): the verb "uskrsnuti" (to resurrect); "uskrsnuće" (resurrection); "Uskrs" (Easter).

And also the Church-Slavonicism "vaskrsnuti" / "vaskrsenje" / "Vaskrs" .
(the former is mostly used by Catholic speakers, and the latter by Orthodox. Although "Uskrs" seems to be the preferred standard variant of the word for Easter.)

Although it (uskrs/vaskrs) may actually have come from "krst" rather than "kres"...

Anyway, there also appears to be an archaic word kres/krijes - which meant something like a fire or a flame, or perhaps a sparkle... hmm...


Oh, and I forgot to mention kremen, of course...


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## ilocas2

The word *kres* actually means something in Slovak. It's in a dictionary.

kres - component serving for ingition of an old type rifle

http://slovniky.juls.savba.sk/?w=kr...o&d=pskcs&d=psken&d=noundb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#


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