Kubyshka is an early East Slavic ceramic jar or pot with narrow hole, short or absent neck and wide, rounded body.[1] In the past the term kubyshka, a diminutive derivation from the word Куб (kub) in the generic meaning of "container",[2] had a broader meaning of various rounded containers, e.g. a barrel[1] or birch bark kubyshka.[3]
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The word has become associated with buried hoards[4] and is used in a number of idioms associated with hoarding or reserve saving (держать в кубышке (keep in a kubyshka), класть в кубышку (put into a kubyshka), etc.).
The word is also used as a euphemism or a nickname for a short, plump person.[5] For example, in Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella, a wicked stepsister's nickname Kubyshka was variously translated as Fatty,[6] Dumpy, etc. Princess Anastasia, the daughter of tsar Nicholas II of Russia was nicknamed "Kubyshka". [7]
References edit
- ^ a b КУБЫ́ШКА, in: Словарь русского языка в 4-х томах (ru:Малый академический словарь) (A Dictionary of Russian Language), Moscow, Русский язык, 1999.
- ^ Article "Куб" in: Max Vasmer, Etymological dictionary of the Russian language
- ^ Vladimir Dahl, Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка
- ^ A footnote in: The Nuclear Deception: Nikita Khrushchev and the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 136
- ^ James B. Woodward, Gogol's "Dead Souls" p. 179
- ^ Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography, p. 419
- ^ Helen Rappaport, The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg, p. 82