# Bulgarian: "късам" Arabic/Turkish loan?



## Kartof

After recently finding out that the Bulgarian word "късмет" is, in fact, a loanword of Arabic origin through Turkish, I was wondering if the verb "to tear" in Bulgarian "късам" (as in tearing a piece of paper) may be of a similar origin, or even connected to "късмет". The original Semitic origin of "късмет" comes from a root meaning to divide. This meaning isn't too different from tearing, and the Semitic root's consonants seem to be preserved in the verb as well. Can anyone enlighten me if there is a possible connection?


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## marco_2

I'd rather opt for Brückner's opinion that it comes from Indo-European root _kond- _(to bite) and is common for most Slavic languages (e.g. Polish *kęs - *къс, парче; *kąsać - *Russian кусать - to bite, Bulgarian *къс - *short, etc.)


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## Kartof

Thanks, that makes more sense, especially if other Slavic languages have cognates to this word. I quickly looked through the translations of "късам" in different Slavic languages, but I didn't see the similarity with "to bite".


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## cooldewd

"Kes/kesni/kesai" in my dialect is to bite.

"Skini" is to tear.


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## Ben Jamin

Kartof said:


> After recently finding out that the Bulgarian word "късмет" is, in fact, a loanword of Arabic origin through Turkish, I was wondering if the verb "to tear" in Bulgarian "късам" (as in tearing a piece of paper) may be of a similar origin, or even connected to "късмет". The original Semitic origin of "късмет" comes from a root meaning to divide. This meaning isn't too different from tearing, and the Semitic root's consonants seem to be preserved in the verb as well. Can anyone enlighten me if there is a possible connection?



*Kesim *means "to cut in" Turkish.

Some Polish authors (Sienkiewicz) claim that in the XVII century the word was used by Zaporozhian Cossacks in the meaning of "cut the throat"


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## Freier Fall

Kartof said:


> After recently finding out that the Bulgarian word "късмет" is, in fact, a loanword of Arabic origin through Turkish, I was wondering if the verb "to tear" in Bulgarian "късам" (as in tearing a piece of paper) may be of a similar origin, or even connected to "късмет". The original Semitic origin of "късмет" comes from a root meaning to divide. This meaning isn't too different from tearing, and the Semitic root's consonants seem to be preserved in the verb as well. Can anyone enlighten me if there is a possible connection?





marco_2 said:


> I'd rather opt for Brückner's opinion that it comes from Indo-European root _kond- _(to bite) and is common for most Slavic languages (e.g. Polish *kęs - *къс, парче; *kąsać - *Russian кусать - to bite, Bulgarian *къс - *short, etc.)



Thanks for the reference to Alexander Brückner 1927 (Aleksander Brückner: "Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego", Kraków 1927), who says (Vol. 1 "A-O", p. 243):

*"kąsać,* _kąsnąć_; _kęs_, _kąsek_, _kąseczek_ i _kąszczek_; _ukąsić_, _zakąsić_, _zakąska_, _pokąsać_; _kąśliwy_, »ni _kąska_«, »i _kąska_«, ‘ani troszkę’; obok _ą_ jest i _u_: _psi kus_ (w 16. w. jeszcze dwa słowa, później jedno; dawniej _psiego kusa_, dziś _psikusa_). Pień _kond-_, ‘kąsać’, lit. _kandu_ (_kąsti_), ‘kąsam’. P. _kęsy_ i _kusy_. Przypuszczają rzeczownik urobiony przyrostkiem _-s_ (jak _głos_ itp.) od _kond-_. Prasłowo; u wszystkich Słowian to samo i tak samo, rus. czes. serb. _kus_; ind. _khādati_, ‘kąsa’, grec. _knōdontes_, ‘zęby u oszczepu’." 
If Brückner is right with the Indoeuropean root and the distribution in all Slavic languages, there seems little chance for a relationship to Arabic originated _kisma _(cf. K. Lokotsch: "Etymologisches Wörterbuch der europäischen Wörter orientalischen Ursprungs", Heidelberg, 1927, p. 95, Nr. 1187)

"1187. Ar. _kisma_: 'Anteil' [vom Vb. _kasama _'teilen'], tk. _kismet _; hieraus dtsch. _Kismet_, engl. _kismet _'unabwendbares Schicksal'." 
However, until now I did not find an explicit note according to the Bulgarian form itself. Unfortunately I've got no access to a Bulgarian etymology. At least Weigand 1942 (Gustav Weigand & A. Doritsch:  "Bulgarisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch", Otto Holtze, 5th edition, Leipzig  1942) gives another hint, that the Bulgarian form does not originate from "Turkish" (page 167):


_кѫсамъ _(-_сахъ_) (= ein Stück abnehmen) 1. abpflücken, abreißen; 2. abbeißen, essen; beißen; refl. itr. [=intransitive] reißen, platzen, brechen, entzwei gehen _кѫсанъ пешкиръ_ zerrissenes Handtuch; _кѫса ми се сърцето отъ жалостъ_ das Herz bricht mir vor Kummer. 
As Weigand mentions on page VI ("Wenn ich mich so bemüht habe, dem Wörterbuche einen gewissen etymologischen Charakter zu geben, wenigstens für die bulgarischen Elemente, so mußte das für die fremden Elemente unterbleiben, als nicht dem Charakter und Zwecke des Buches entsprechend. Wohl aber ist durch Zufügung eines _T _darauf hingewiesen worden, daß das Wort türkisches Lehnwort ist, ganz einerlei, ob der Urprung arabisch, persisch, italienisch oder französisch etc. ist.") he marked all "turkish" loan words with a "T" (equal, whetzjer they originated from Arabic, Persian, Italian, French etc.). Furthermore he explains on page VIII ("*In den türkischen Lehnwörtern ist nie das Zeichen ѫ, wie vielfach üblich, angewandt, sondern ъ*, nur im betonten Auslaut mußte ѫ stehen.", bold format by Weigand), that he did not use the letter ѫ inside of "turkish" loan words, but ъ. Since he did not mark _кѫсамъ _with a "T", and because he used the letter ѫ inside of the word _кѫсамъ_ , we can assume, that Weigand considered _кѫсамъ_ as of being no "Turkish" (in broader sense) loan word.


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## Freier Fall

Ben Jamin said:


> *Kesim *means "to cut in" Turkish.


Maybe you refer to the transitive verb _kesinmek_._ Kesim _is a Turkish noun.

Vámbéry 1878 (Hermann Vámbéry: "Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Turko-Tatarischen  Sprachen; ein Versuch zur Darstellung des Familienverhältnisses des  Turko-Tatarischen Wortschatzes", Brockhaus, Leipzig 1878) gives some information sub "Kes, kis, keć, kić, schneiden, zerschneiden, zerstückeln, zerstückelt, klein, wenig, gering" (page 98,  paragraph 106) and lists records for  "uig."="uigurisch" (Uyghur), "čag."="čagataisch" (Chagatay),  "kir.".?="Kirgisisch", "alt."="altaisch" (Altaic), "osman."="osmanisch"  (Ottoman), "jak."="jakutusch" (Yakut), "kk."="koibal-karagassisch",  "ćuv."="ćuvasisch" (Chuvash), "kaz."="kazanisch". I won't post the record here, but it even connects Osmanic "küćük = klein; küćek, köćek=Junge, Schandbube, Tänzer" with - for instance - Uyghur "kesmek=schneiden; kesük=Schnitt, Abbruch, Verfall, Krankheit [...]; kesükli=krank; kesim=Ende (d.h. wo etwas abgeschnitten, abgebrochen ist); kesimći=Beender, Vertilger". As mentioned, just for example.

But we still got no source here, that sees Bulgarian късам connected with this Arabic or Turcic forms.

Follwowing to Brückner 1927 (cited above) I looked up _kus _in Skok (Petar Skok: "Etimologijski Rječnik Hrvastkoga ili Srpskoga jezika",  Vol. 2,  "K-poni",  Jugoslavenska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti,  Zagreb 1972; reprint from 1988) who mentions the connections on p. 245f:

küs m (1450.) » l ü komad (kus meda »sat«), pièce, 2° što se jednom odgrize > zalogaj; sinonimne posudenice: hrv.-kajk. falat (ŽK v.), komad (v.), top (v.)«, postverbal od sveslav. i praslav (*kcsb) kusati, kusam impf. (18. v., Vuk) »1° gristi, 2° naglo jesti, 3° žvakati«, koje se nalazi i u drugim slavinama, = kusati, -ãm (Ston) »nejednako strići«, prema pf. kusnuti, küşnem (Vuk) »založiti se punom lažicom «. Sveslav. i praslav. pridjev küs, f kusa (Vuk) »cauda truncata«, poimeničen u ž. r. kusa »kusasto žensko živinče«, u određenom m. r. kusī (Srbija) »vrag«, složen od sintagme kusòrep (17. v.), u ž. r. kusòrepa kobila, poimeničen na -ъс kusòrepac, gen. -pea »1° živinče, 2° biljka« prema f na -iça kusòrepica, na -ast kusòrepast, s faktitivom na -iti kusiti, kusïm impf. (Vuk) (o-) »caudam truncare«, iskusiti, iskusim (objekt hljeb) »Ia· isjeći na komade, 2° essend einen Löffel ausleeren«. Pridjev je raširen na -ost, -at kašast = kuşat »bez repa«. Deminutivi ili poimeničenja pridjeva na -ъk kuşak, gen. -ska = kusatak, gen. -atka (upor. curetak) — kusić (18. v.) = kuście, s augmentativom na -ina kuščina, na -ъс kúsac, gen. -sca (15. v.) »1° komadić (kruha), 2° čovjek što kusa« = küsac, gen. -sca (17. v.) »3° kusasto muško živinče, 4° zmija, crnokrug« = na -āč kusač, gen. -ača, na -ica kusica »nazivi ptica i riba«. Na -ača kusača (Goljak) »1° gljiva, 2° toponim«. Na -aća (rijedak sufiks, još samo mokraća, v.) kusaća »vrsta tikve«. Na -aja (tip Krivaja) Kūsāja, toponim. Radna imenica na -'.aç kûsalac, gen. -aoca m prema f küsalica (Stulić) »koji kusa« = na -vac kúsavac, gen. -avca (Vuk) = na -alo kusalo m (Dubrovnik) »prednji dio kašike«. Na -ali (upor. putalj) kašalj (Vuk) »kus konj«, na -an kusan »kuso živinče«, s hipokoristikom kuso = na -on/a kusanja »kusasta domaća životinja«. Na -ov < madž. -ó kusov, gen. -óva, s pridjevom kusòvljev =· na -ija (upór. Pedja od Petar) küsija (Lika) »kusast pas«. Nejasna je tvorba augmentativ kusinčina »osa« (možda -ičina s umetnutim n); kusra (Lika) »malena žena« < kusa, s umetnutim r (prema srati) kao cusra < cura (ŽK) je pejorativiziranje. Na -ulja (običan sufiks u imenima krava) kùsulja (Vuk) »kusasta krava«, s pridjevom na -in kùsuljin. Ovamo još sa -ta kuša (Srbija, Ćuprija, Slavonija, Orahovica, Slatina) »kuso živinče«. Na -jāk kušāk, gen. -âka (Hrvatska, hrv.-kajk.) »třtina, biskup (metafora) «. Glas u je nastao iz nazala g (upor. polj. kęs i kąsać), ali je prastav, imenica postojala i u dubleti kust. Da je to bilo i na Balkanu i u Panoniji, potvrđuje rum. cus i ngr. κούτζος, odatle balkanski naziv za Cincare Kucovlasi »Vlasi bez repa« = Mali Vlasi, za razliku od Dakorumunja na sjeveru. Madžari posudiše sa nazalom ç: koncz »komad« i bez nazala kusza. Baltičke usporednice utvrđuju prvobitno značenje: lit. kąsti, kandu = lot. kuôst »gristi«, lit. kandis »zalogaj« < ie. *kh3ňdeti. Razlika je između baltičkog glagola i praslav. kpsb u tome što je u slavinama ie. korijen proširen formantom -so < ie. *qon-d-s-os ili *khňd-sos. Ie. je korijen u prijevoju *qen / *qon- »grepsti«. Taj nije posve pouzdano utvrđen. Upor. čest-i (v.). Kako bilo, semantička je paralela fr. morceau < vlat. *morsicellu, od mordere. 
The BCS-text is hard to understand for me, and again I did not find a clear reference to Bulgarian късам. But maybe the literature, Skok cited as sources, may help to find more about Bulgarian forms:


Lit.: ARj 3, 908. 5, 826. 827. 822. 125. 829. 834. Mažuranić 576. Miklošič 127. SEW ì, 601. Holub-Kopečný 183. 195. Mladenov 268 Bruckner 225. KZ 42, 351. 48, 211. Trautmann 116. WP l, 393. Meillet, Slávia 3, 674. Matzenauer, LF 9, 181-182. Sütterlin, IF 25, 61. Petersson, ASPh 36, 138. Osten-Säcken, IF 23, 381-382. 
[Note: "ARj"= Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika. Ed. JAZU. Zagreb, 1880. ss. "Mažuranić" = VI. Mažuranić, Prinosi za hrvatski pravno-povjestni rječnik. Zagreb, 1908 -1923. "Miklošič"=F. Miklosich, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slavischen Sprachen. Beč, 1886.. "SEW"=E. Berneker, Slavisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. I Α-Mor. Heidelberg, 1908-1913. "Bruckner"=A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Kraków, 1927. "KZ"=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen. Ed. A. Kühn. Berlin. "Trautmann" = R. Trautmann, Baltisch-slavisches Wörberbuch. Göttingen, 1923. "WP"=A. Walde, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen. Ed. J. Pokorny. Berlin, 1928-1932. Voll. I-III. "Meillet, Slavia"=A. Meillet, Le slave commun (en collaboration avec A. Vaillant). Paris, 1934. "Matzenauer"=A. Matzenauer, Cizi slova ve slovanských řečeh. Brunn, 1870. "IF"=Indogermanische Forschungen. Strassburg. "ASPh"=Archiv für slavische Philologie. Berlin.]​


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## Ben Jamin

Freier Fall said:


> Maybe you refer to the transitive verb _kesinmek_._ Kesim _is a Turkish noun.



You are certainly right. I don't know Turkish, except for some general information about the language, and a few dozen words, mostly through Polish loans from Turkish.
I found the word *kesim *in a dictionary that turned out not to be precise enough. (*Kesim *was once a Turkish loan in Polish, now almost forgotten).

Is it possible, that the word may be a loan from Slavic?


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## Freier Fall

Ben Jamin said:


> Is it possible, that the word may be a loan from Slavic?


I'm no linguist. The other way round interests me at least as much, but both etymologies (Slavic here and Arabic and/or Turcic there) seem to reach back so far and to be distributed so widely in their linguistic groups, when I got it right. I found no cross connection mentioned in the literature so far. So I just can echo to your question and hope, some experts here can help.


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## Freier Fall

Freier Fall said:


> The BCS-text is hard to understand for me, and again I did not find a clear reference to Bulgarian късам. But maybe the literature, Skok cited as sources, may help to find more about Bulgarian forms:
> 
> 
> Lit.: ARj 3, 908. 5, 826. 827. 822. 125. 829. 834. Mažuranić 576. Miklošič 127. SEW ì, 601. Holub-Kopečný 183. 195. Mladenov 268 Bruckner 225. KZ 42, 351. 48, 211. Trautmann 116. WP l, 393. Meillet, Slávia 3, 674. Matzenauer, LF 9, 181-182. Sütterlin, IF 25, 61. Petersson, ASPh 36, 138. Osten-Säcken, IF 23, 381-382.
> [Note: "ARj"= Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika. Ed. JAZU. Zagreb, 1880. ss. "Mažuranić" = VI. Mažuranić, Prinosi za hrvatski pravno-povjestni rječnik. Zagreb, 1908 -1923. "Miklošič"=F. Miklosich, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slavischen Sprachen. Beč, 1886.. "SEW"=E. Berneker, Slavisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. I Α-Mor. Heidelberg, 1908-1913. "Bruckner"=A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Kraków, 1927. "KZ"=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen. Ed. A. Kühn. Berlin. "Trautmann" = R. Trautmann, Baltisch-slavisches Wörberbuch. Göttingen, 1923. "WP"=A. Walde, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen. Ed. J. Pokorny. Berlin, 1928-1932. Voll. I-III. "Meillet, Slavia"=A. Meillet, Le slave commun (en collaboration avec A. Vaillant). Paris, 1934. "Matzenauer"=A. Matzenauer, Cizi slova ve slovanských řečeh. Brunn, 1870. "IF"=Indogermanische Forschungen. Strassburg. "ASPh"=Archiv für slavische Philologie. Berlin.]​


At least I found Bulgarian _късам _explicitly mentioned by Miklošič (F. Miklosich, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slavischen Sprachen. Beč, 1886) sub "_kons-_" on page 127 (as cited by Skok 1972). There he lists under "b" for Bulgarian: 

[...] b. kъsam otkъsna reissen, abbrechen, kъs stück. [...] 
So - according to Miklošič - _късам _stands in etymological context with "asl."="altslovenisch" _kąsati _"beissen" _kąsъ _"stück, bisschen". If Miklošič had suggested this word as being burrowed from Arabic, Turcic, Turkish etc. he probably would have mentioned it as he did it in other cases in this work (for tulmači e.g.). Maybe this is no new idea, but it's concrete concering the form _късам _after all.


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