харалуг

Russian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Old East Slavic харалугъ (xaralugŭ), not doubted to be Turkic – being present before the Mongol raids –, but controverted if exactly from

  • каралык (qaralıq, blackness) referring to the black streaks in the sword, derived from Proto-Turkic *kara (black)
  • or кара (qara, black) + олук (oluk, “channel”) referring to the black streaks in the word, from Proto-Turkic *kara (black) + Proto-Turkic *oluk (hollowed-out tree).
  • or relating to the Qarluq stem, settling on iron mines and powerful.[1]
  • etc.[2]

Some have related it as a polnoglasie to the name of the Carolingians, карля́ги (karljági), корля́зи (korljázi), короля́зи (koroljázi),[3] but this seems to be a historical phantasy.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [xərɐˈɫuk]

Noun

харалу́г • (xaralúgm inan (genitive харалу́га, nominative plural харалу́ги, genitive plural харалу́гов)

  1. (historical) Damascus steel, or a type of damask steel used in medieval Rus
    Synonyms: була́т (bulát), дама́ск (damásk)

Declension

Derived terms

  • харалу́жный (xaralúžnyj)

References

  1. ^ Validi, A. Zeki (1936) “Die Schwerter der Germanen, nach arabischen Berichten des 9.–11. Jahrhunderts”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft[1] (in German), volume 90, pages 33–36
  2. ^ More in Харалугъ”, in Словарь-справочник «Слова о полку Игореве», Leningrad: Наука, 1984
  3. ^ Гедеоновъ, Степанъ Александровичъ (1876) Варяги и Русь (in Russian), volume 1, Saint Petersburg: типография Академии наук, page 330