Etymologically
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бог

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Pronunciation

  • [box], [bok][1]

Forms

бог (box) m anim (genitive бо́га, nominative plural бо́ги, genitive plural бого́в, female equivalent боги́ня, relational adjective бо́жий or бо́жеский or боже́ственный, diminutive божо́к or бо́женька)[1] The old vocative бо́же lives on in exclamations such as бо́же мой!.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic богъ (bogŭ), from Proto-Slavic *bogъ (“god”).[1][4][5] The word is common Slavic: Old Church Slavonic богъ (bogŭ), Ukrainian біг (bih) (genitive бога (boha)), Bulgarian бог (bog), Serbo-Croatian бог (bog), Slovene bog, Czech bůh, Polish bóg and Upper Sorbian bóh.[4][6] Anikin assigns the Proto-Slavic noun to the mobile accent paradigm c.[6]

Vasmer relates it to Sanskrit भग (bhága, “bestower, lord”), an epithet of Savitar, to Old Persian baga- (“god”) and Avestan baga- (“lord, god”), and through the verb “to allot, share out” to Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phageîn, “to eat, devour”): the first sense would be “the one who allots”.[4] Chernykh and Shaposhnikov give the root as Proto-Indo-European *bʰag- (“to allot, distribute”),[7][8] which Wiktionary writes *bʰeh₂g- (“to divide”).[1] Tocharian has Tocharian A pāk (“share, part”) and Tocharian B pāke.[6]

Beside the name of the god, scholars often set up an older noun “share, wealth, fortune”, kept in *bogatъ (богатый), *ubogъ (убогий) and *sъbožьje, whence Ukrainian збіжжя (zbižžja, “grain”) and Polish zboże (“grain”).[6][9] Shansky and Bobrova take the religious sense to be secondary.[10]

Whether Slavic borrowed the word from Iranian is an old question.[7][6] Chernykh finds the Slavic word closest in sound and sense to the Old Iranian forms, which is why some take it from Scythian.[7] Anikin lists the arguments for a loan: the Slavic accent paradigm does not match the Sanskrit stress, Winter's law has left no trace in the word (Derksen), and Baltic and the other European languages have no counterpart.[6] Vasmer rejects the loan: the fricative /ɣ/ of the Russian word can come from Ukrainian influence on the Moscow church pronunciation, and the shared senses prove nothing, since Slavic shares others with Iranian (ради, святой).[4] Most scholars, Anikin says, take the Slavic and Indo-Iranian words as related, with Iranian influence on the sense “god” in the time of Slavic–Iranian contact.[6] Wiktionary calls that sense a semantic loan from Scythian that displaced an older *divъ;[1] Anikin also thinks that the word may have replaced that older name of the god (compare Lithuanian diẽvas (“god”)).[6] A certain Iranian loan, by contrast, is Moksha pavas (“God; fortune”).[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the colophon of the Ostromir Gospel (1056–1057): „Мънога же лѣ(т). дароуи б҃ъ сътѩжавъшоумоу еу(г)лие се” “Grant many years, God, to him who acquired this Gospel”.[11] The Izbornik of 1076 has „а вьсе б҃ъ творить” “and God makes everything”.[11][12] Already the oldest dictionary sense covers both the supreme being ruling the world and one of many gods in a polytheistic religion.[13]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian used the word for the pagan gods as well as the Christian one: a 12th-century text says that people made gods of the sun and moon, the earth and water, and „Трояна, Хърса, Велеса, Перуна на бы обратиша” “turned Troyan, Khors, Veles and Perun into gods”.[13] The plural could mean idols, as in the 15th-century Life of Stephen of Perm by Epiphanius: „богы их раскопа” “he dug up their gods”.[13] Old Russian names of gods were made with it too: Дажьбогъ, from a phrase meaning “give a share”, and Стрибогъ, whose “grandsons” are the winds of the Lay of Igor's Campaign.[6] With Christianity the common noun became a proper name, Бог, the name of God.[6]

Many fixed phrases grew up around it: Богъ вѣсть “God knows, nobody knows” is in Simeon's 17th-century proverbs, and спаси богъ “God save (you)” was a way of thanking someone, used as a noun “thanks” by Avvakum in 1673.[13] Old texts also say that God “took” or “led away” a person who died.[13][6] In many dialects бог and the plural боги mean an icon.[14][6] Vasmer lists бог “devil” and Ukrainian богиня “ghost” as euphemisms made from the same word.[15] Slang has the oath японский бог!.[16]

Timeline

  • 1056–1057 – б҃ъ “God” in the colophon of the Ostromir Gospel.[11][6]
  • 1076 – богъ in the Izbornik of 1076.[11][12]
  • 12th century – богы of the pagan gods Troyan, Khors, Veles and Perun.[13]
  • 1230 – идти къ Богови “to go to God”, that is, to die.[6]
  • 1339 – что ми дал богъ “what God has given me” in a princely testament.[13]
  • 1396 – Богъ послухъ “God is my witness”.[6]
  • 1673 – спаси богъ used as a noun, “thanks”, by Avvakum.[13]
  • 1850 – бог “icon”, recorded in the Oryol region.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In religion: the supreme, all-powerful being that rules the world, or, in polytheism, one of several such beings: боги Древней Греции “the gods of ancient Greece”.[2][3]
  2. (capitalised, Бог) In Christianity: the triune God, creator and first principle of all things.[2][17][1]
  3. (figurative) A person of great power over others, or of extraordinary creative gift.[18]
  4. (figurative) An object of worship or admiration; an idol.[18][1]
  5. (regional) An icon.[14][6]

Word family

  • богиня
  • божество
  • божий
  • божественный
  • божеский
  • божиться
  • божок
  • безбожник
  • набожный
  • обожать
  • полубог
  • богатей
  • богатство
  • богатый
  • богач
  • убогий
  • убожество
  • Old East Slavic богъ (bogŭ)

Usage notes

The word is pronounced [box], with the final /x/ of the fricative /ɣ/ that the Church Slavonic pronunciation kept in it.[2][6][1] Anikin has a separate Don dialect noun бог “pig's stomach stuffed with meat or porridge”, from Ukrainian, and records Бог as the old name of the river now called the Southern Bug.[19] Common phrases include слава богу “thank God”, не дай бог “God forbid” and как бог на душу положит “any old way”.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. бог
  3. ^ a b c Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. бог
  4. ^ a b c d e Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 181–182
  5. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 50
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Anikin, A. E. (2007–2021), Russkij ètimologičeskij slovar' [Русский этимологический словарь], vols. 1–13 (A–D), Moskva: Rukopisnye pamjatniki Drevnej Rusi / Institut russkogo jazyka RAN, p. 3, 287
  7. ^ a b c Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 1, s.v. бог
  8. ^ Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 69
  9. ^ Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. бог
  10. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Bobrova, T. A. (2004), Škol'nyj ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка], 7th ed., Moskva: Drofa, p. s.v. бог
  11. ^ a b c d Avanesov, R. I. et al. (eds.) (1988–), Slovar' drevnerusskogo jazyka (XI–XIV vv.) [Словарь древнерусского языка (XI–XIV вв.)], vols. 1–13, Moskva: Russkij jazyk / Azbukovnik, p. 1, s.v. богъ
  12. ^ a b Vinogradova, V. L. (1965–1984), Slovar'-spravočnik «Slova o polku Igoreve» [Словарь-справочник «Слова о полку Игореве»], 6 vols., Moskva / Leningrad: Nauka, p. s.v. богъ
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 1, 255
  14. ^ a b c Filin, F. P.; Sorokoletov, F. P.; Myznikov, S. A. (eds.) (1965–), Slovar' russkix narodnyx govorov [Словарь русских народных говоров], vols. 1–51, Moskva / Leningrad / Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, p. 3, 40
  15. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 182
  16. ^ Elistratov, V. S. (2000), Slovar' russkogo argo [Словарь русского арго], Moskva: Russkie slovari, p. s.v. бог
  17. ^ Kuznetsov, S. A. (ed.) (1998), Bol'šoj tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Большой толковый словарь русского языка], Sankt-Peterburg: Norint, p. s.v. Бог
  18. ^ a b Efremova, T. F. (2000), Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. бог
  19. ^ Anikin, A. E. (2007–2021), Russkij ètimologičeskij slovar' [Русский этимологический словарь], vols. 1–13 (A–D), Moskva: Rukopisnye pamjatniki Drevnej Rusi / Institut russkogo jazyka RAN, p. 3, 290