сургуч

Russian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Mid-17th century from a Turkic language which compounded the elements represented in Modern and Ottoman Turkish as صیر (sır, varnish, glaze, enamel) + ـغج (-gaç, -gıç, -geç, -giç).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [sʊrˈɡut͡ɕ]
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

сургу́ч • (surgúčm inan (genitive сургуча́, nominative plural сургучи́, genitive plural сургуче́й, relational adjective сургу́чный)

  1. sealing wax
    • 1860, Иван Тургенев [Ivan Turgenev], “III”, in Первая любовь; English translation from Constance Garnett, transl., First Love, 1897:
      В моё́ отсу́тствие ма́тушка получи́ла от но́вой свое́й сосе́дки письмо́ на се́рой бума́ге, запеча́танной бу́рым сургучо́м, како́й употребля́ется то́лько на почто́вых пове́стках да на про́бках дешё́вого вина́.
      V mojó otsútstvije mátuška polučíla ot nóvoj svojéj sosédki pisʹmó na séroj bumáge, zapečátannoj búrym surgučóm, kakój upotrebljájetsja tólʹko na počtóvyx povéstkax da na próbkax dešóvovo viná.
      In my absence my mother had received from her new neighbour a letter on grey paper, sealed with brown wax, such as is only used in notices from the post-office or on the corks of bottles of cheap wine.

Declension

Descendants

  • Belarusian: сургу́ч (surhúč)
  • Ukrainian: сургу́ч (surhúč)

Further reading

  • Krysko, V. B., editor (2011), “сургучъ”, in Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв. [Dictionary of the Russian Language: 11ᵗʰ–17ᵗʰ cc.] (in Russian), issue 29 (сулегъ – тольмиже), Moscow: Nauka, Azbukovnik, →ISBN, page 48
  • сургуч in Большой толковый словарь, editor-in-chief С. А. Кузнецов – hosted at gramota.ru