Etymologically
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друг

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Pronunciation

  • [druk][1]
  • Russia, Southern: [drux][1]

Forms

друг (drug) m anim (genitive дру́га, nominative plural друзья́, genitive plural друзе́й, female equivalent подру́га, relational adjective дру́жеский, diminutive дружо́к, augmentative дружи́ще, expressive term друга́н)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic другъ (drugŭ), from Proto-Slavic *drugъ (“companion, follower, friend”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *draugás.[1][2][3] The word is shared by the Slavic languages: Old Church Slavonic дроугъ (drugŭ), Ukrainian друг (druh), Bulgarian друг (drug), Slovene drúg, Czech druh and Old Polish drug.[4][5]

Its Baltic cognates are Lithuanian draugas (“companion, comrade”), Latvian draugs and Old Prussian draugiwaldūnen (“co-heir”).[4][5] Further related are Old Norse draugr (“man”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (driugan, “to serve as a soldier”), 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐍃 (gadrauhts, “soldier”) and Old High German truhtīn (“war leader, prince”).[4][5] Shaposhnikov reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰos, from the verb *dʰrewgʰ- “to follow, to go to war together”.[3][2] Latin drungus (“troop”) does not belong here.[4] Trubachev proposed instead a formation in ⟨-g-⟩ “faithful one, comrade” from the base of дерево, comparing German trauen (“to trust”) and Treue (“faithfulness”).[5]

The plural друзья continues the Old Russian collective дружья (družʹja), which stood beside the nominative plural друзи (druzi).[4] The pronominal другой “other” was originally the same word.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chernykh dates другъ in Old Russian from the 11th century, in the senses “friend”, “comrade”, “servant” and “retinue”.[2] In the Primary Chronicle (Laurentian copy of 1377) the Pecheneg prince says to Pretich under the year 968: „буди ми другъ” “be my friend”.[6]

Semantic evolution

The oldest texts use the word for “the other person, one's neighbour”, as in the Novgorod First Chronicle under 1257: „копая подъ другомь яму, сам ся въ ню въвалить” “who digs a pit for another falls into it himself”.[6] Beside “friend” it meant “companion, fellow traveller”: the chronicle of 1338 has Isaiah the Greek painting a church с другы “with his companions”.[6] The 11th–17th centuries also have недруг, дружьба (družĭba) “friendship” and дружити (družiti) “to be groomsmen at a wedding”.[3][2]

The sense “other” lives on in друг друга “each other”, as in Old Church Slavonic дроугъ дроуга (drugŭ druga), which renders Ancient Greek ἀλλήλους (allḗlous).[4] The modern dictionaries treat this use apart from “friend”.[7] The English word droog was taken from the Russian word.[1]

Timeline

  • 11th century – другъ in Old Russian.[2]
  • 1257 – другъ “another person, neighbour” in the Novgorod First Chronicle.[6]
  • 1338 – с другы “with his companions” in the Novgorod First Chronicle.[6]
  • 1377 – буди ми другъ “be my friend” in the Laurentian copy of the Primary Chronicle, under the year 968.[6]
  • 1666 – the plural дружья “friends”.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A friend: a person bound to someone by friendship.[7][1]
  2. (elevated) A supporter or champion of someone or something: a friend of children, of freedom.[7]
  3. A form of address to someone close, and colloquially a friendly address to anyone.[7]

Pronoun

  1. (in друг друга, друг другу, друг с другом…) each other, one another.[7][1]

Word family

  • дружба
  • дружить
  • дружный
  • дружеский
  • дружественный
  • подруга
  • дружок
  • дружище
  • недруг
  • дружина

Usage notes

In друг друга only the second word is declined, and a preposition stands between the two: друг о друге “about each other”, друг с другом “with each other”.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. друг
  3. ^ a b c Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 247
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 543
  5. ^ a b c d Shansky, N. M.; Zhuravlev, A. F. (eds.) (1963–2007), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], vols. 1–10 (A–M), Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta, p. 5, s.v. друг
  6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 4, 360
  7. ^ a b c d e f Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. друг
  8. ^ 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. друг