жемчуг

Russian

Etymology

Inherited from Old East Slavic жьмьчюгъ (žĭmĭčjugŭ) (birchbark letter No. 809, 12th c.), from more common жьньчюгъ (žĭnĭčjugŭ) (since 1161), from Bulgar *ǯinǯü (whence also Chuvash ӗнчӗ (ĕnč̬ĕ) and Hungarian gyöngy) with auslaut akin to *ǯinǯüɣä (dat. sg.), from Proto-Common Turkic *yinǯü (whence also Old Turkic 𐰖𐰅𐰨𐰇 (yénčü), Kazakh інжу (ınju), Turkish inci etc.), from Middle Chinese 珍珠 (trin tsyu), 真珠 (tsyin tsyu, “true pearls”), whence also Mandarin 珍珠 (zhēnzhū).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʐɛmt͡ɕʊk]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

же́мчуг • (žémčug) m inan (genitive же́мчуга, nominative plural жемчуга́, genitive plural жемчуго́в, relational adjective жемчу́жный)

1. pearl

Declension

Declension of же́мчуг (inan masc-form velar-stem accent-c irreg) 

	singular	plural
nominative	же́мчуг žémčug	жемчуга́△ žemčugá△
genitive	же́мчуга žémčuga	жемчуго́в žemčugóv
dative	же́мчугу žémčugu	жемчуга́м žemčugám
accusative	же́мчуг žémčug	жемчуга́△ žemčugá△
instrumental	же́мчугом žémčugom	жемчуга́ми žemčugámi
prepositional	же́мчуге žémčuge	жемчуга́х žemčugáx

^△ Irregular.

Derived terms

• жемчу́жина f (žemčúžina, noun)
• жемчу́жница f anim (žemčúžnica, noun)

Descendants

• → Erzya: жемчуг (žemčug)
• → Moksha: шимщуга (šimščuga)
• → Finnish: simpukka
• → Karelian: simčukka, šimčukka, simpčukka, zimčukka
• → Yakut: чөмчүүк (čömčüük)

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “жемчуг”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress

Further reading

• Dal, Vladimir (1880–1882), “жемчуг”, in Толковый Словарь живаго великорускаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 2nd edition, Publication of the bookseller-typographer Wolf, M. O.