War, law & rule

Cossack

A Turkic word for a free adventurer, qazaq, named the frontier horsemen of Ukraine and Russia; it reached English through Polish and French around 1590, and Russian Cossacks carried it as far as Siberia and Paris. The ethnic name Kazakh is the same word.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Middle Turkic to Kazakh

From Middle Turkic to Russian, Japanese

From Polish to German

From Middle French to French, Spanish

From French to Italian

1300Middle Turkic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

The road to English

From Middle Turkic to Russian, Japanese

Export “Cossack”

Embed “Cossack”

Save “Cossack”

Export “Cossack”

Embed “Cossack”

Save “Cossack”