Origin and meaning of the word "kugut"

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Origin and meaning of the word "kugut"
Origin and meaning of the word "kugut"

Video: Origin and meaning of the word "kugut"

Video: Origin and meaning of the word
Video: Word Origins - semantics, meaning change over time (Etymology 2 of 2) 2024, April
Anonim

The meaning of the word "kugut" has a contemptuous connotation, the saying is addressed to people who are narrow-minded, stubborn, ignorant. Most often it is used as a synonym for "redneck" or with the figurative meaning of the word "cock". Where did this insult come from, what is its history, and what does the word "kugut" actually mean?

Etymology

In the Hutsul dialect of Western Ukraine, a domestic rooster, a male black grouse and a bunch of cock feathers on a hat are called a kohut. The word sounds like "kogut" with the accent on the first syllable and probably comes from the Polish language, in which kogut also means cock. Kogut has a diminutive and magnifying-reinforcing form of the word: kogutik, kogutishche. Such an interpretation is given by the dictionary of the Ukrainian language, published in 1970-1980 by the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. An example of a Western Ukrainian proverb: "Two koguts, like two mistresses, will never come to an agreement." But why did kogut change to kugut and the meaning of the word became offensive?

"kogut" - a rooster in the Hutsul dialect
"kogut" - a rooster in the Hutsul dialect

Vulgarism and jargon

Even before the revolution, the word "kugut" appeared inthug vocabulary of the Russian-speaking population of Odessa. It could have got into the language environment of the port city from migrants from the territories belonging to modern Western Ukraine, or from Polish Jews. The word had two meanings, both of which were used derogatoryly. As a designation for a rooster, it has become synonymous with a word for people of non-traditional sexual orientation. Also, the most unworthy individuals from the category of rednecks were called kuguts.

Derogatory term for people

During the period of dispossession in Ukraine and later, the term "kugut" was used to address we althy peasants and served as a synonym for the noun "kurkul". Since about the beginning of the 1960s, the meaning of the word "kugut" ("village kugut") has become completely different. So the townspeople began to call the villagers moving to the cities, who speak Surzhik, who do not know how to behave and have no idea about the norms of decency. The words "kugut", "redneck", "kurkul", "redneck", "redneck" have become synonymous. In Ukraine, especially in Lvov, the saying "rogul" (bull, ox in the Hutsul dialect) used the same meaning, which today has also acquired a political connotation.

Image "rogul" synonymous with "kuguta"
Image "rogul" synonymous with "kuguta"

Gradually, the offensive word spread to uneducated, stupid people, arrogant and impudent for all their ignorance. Now the term is rarely used, but on the Don, especially in the southern part of the Rostov region, it remains in wide use.

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