# All Slavic Languages: Bed



## Mac_Linguist1

Yet another question regarding doublets...

What are the differences between the words _postel*_ and _lůžko/krevet** _in your language?
_

* Also: постель (Russian), postelja (Croatian), etc.
** Also: кроват__ь (Russian)_


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## .Jordi.

Pościel: 
*1. *«poduszki, kołdra, prześcieradło, rozkładane na łóżko przed pójściem spać»
*2. *«bielizna, którą się powleka poduszki, kołdrę, pierzyny itp.»

Here you have a picture of pościel


And łóżko is just a typical bed.

But, there is also a word posłanie, derivated from pościel. It could mean a place to sleep, but it's rather used when refering to animals, for exemple: posłanie dla psa/kota...


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## mietagosia

I rarely heard of the word "posłanie" in reference to the place where animals sleep - it's correct though. I also encountered it in the context of people (eg posłanie dla gościa - bed made for the guest) but it's rather old-fashioned and more commonly used in literature.

MietaGosia


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## kelt

Hi,

_postel _is the general word we use for bed in Czech. _Lůžko_ sounds a bit more formal. We use it for for beds in hospital or on a train for example.


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## werrr

kelt said:


> _postel _is the general word we use for bed in Czech. _Lůžko_ sounds a bit more formal.


“Postel” is just the piece of furniture, thus no general word at all.

“Lože” is a general word for a place where something or someone could be lying. This could be even the place to sleep, but it is bookish/archaic in this sense (with exception of some idioms).

“Lůžko” is diminutive of the previous and it is commonly used as the general term for the place for one person to sleep.

In common speech we tend to use “postel” whenever it is possible, so we say “jít do postele” for “go to bed” for example.



> We use it for for beds in hospital or on a train for example.


Yes, because we count the places to sleep, not the pieces of furniture, and because there is no furniture on train.


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## Saluton

Russian:
*постель* (postel') - bed-clothes or a piece of furniture with bed-clothes on it
*ложе* (lozhe) - same as the Czech _*lože* _(thanks werrr)
_*кровать*_ (krovat') - only a piece of furniture


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## Kanes

In Bulgarian krevat means a bed.

Postelia means to spread, could be a blanket too I guess.


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## Christo Tamarin

Saluton said:


> Russian:
> *постéль* (postel') - bed-clothes or a piece of furniture with bed-clothes on it
> *лόже* (lozhe) - same as the Czech _*lože* _(thanks werrr)
> _*кровáть*_ (krovat') - only a piece of furniture (feminine!)


 
The following *Bulgarian* words can be translated into English as *bed*:

_*крeвáт *_(krevat)* - *mainly a piece of furniture (masculine!); borrowed from Greek
_*легл*__*ό *_(leglo)_* - *_mainly, the same as *крeвáт*; neuter gender
_*постéля*_ (postel'a) - the same as the Russian *постель*; feminine
*лόже* (lozhe) - the same as in Russian; neuter gender; archaic!


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## Saluton

Yeah thanks for the add, I was a bit mistaken, the Russian *ложе* is archaic in almost all senses, save for scientific ones in the first place (it can mean _ocean bed_, or _bed for seeds_, or _tumour bed_, etc). There's also the word *ложа* (loge, suite), not to be confused with *ложе*.
On the whole, it looks as though all Slavic languages used three roots to form the nouns for _bed_ (I'm using Russian variations of those here): *-stel-* (lay something that spreads); *-lozh-* (simply lay, put); and *-kry(v)-* (to cover).


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## trance0

In Slovenian we use only two expressions for bed:

- *postelja *is used to describe furniture
*
- ležišče *is used to describe something to lay on in general and sounds a bit more formal

Words "krevet" or "krovet" and other possibilities based on the word "krov"(which means roof in Slovene although "streha" is more common).


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## Christo Tamarin

trance0 said:


> Words "krevet" or "krovet" and other possibilities based on the word "krov"(which means roof in Slovene although "streha" is more common).


 


Saluton said:


> On the whole, it looks as though all Slavic languages used three roots to form the nouns for _bed_ (I'm using Russian variations of those here): *-stel-* (lay something that spreads); *-lozh-* (simply lay, put); and *-kry(v)-* (to cover).


 
Both Russian *кровать* and Bulgarian *креват* are borrowed from Greek, according to Vassmer. These words are not related to the Slavic root *krov/кров*. I suppose the same is true for Slovene words.


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