ключ

ключ¹ key

Pronunciation

• [klʲʉt͡ɕ]^[1]

Forms

ключ (ključ) m inan (genitive ключа́, nominative plural ключи́, genitive plural ключе́й, relational adjective ключево́й or клю́чный, diminutive клю́чик)^[1]

Etymology

The key is inherited from Old East Slavic ключь (ključĭ), from Proto-Slavic *kľučь, originally a crooked stick or wooden hook.^[2][3][4] The word is common Slavic: Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ), Ukrainian ключ (ključ), Bulgarian ключ (ključ), Serbo-Croatian кључ (ključ, “hook, key”), Slovene ključ, Czech klíč and Polish klucz.^[5][6]

It is formed with the suffix ⟨-j-⟩ from the base of клюка, “a stick with a bent end”, /kj/ giving /č/.^[6][7][8] Shaposhnikov notes that the Slavic word kept both the old sense “bent stick, hook” and the shape of the primitive hook-like key.^[3] Its cognates are the Baltic relatives of that word and Ancient Greek κληΐς (klēḯs, “key”), κλείω (kleíō, “I shut”), Latin clāvis (“key”), clāvus (“nail”) and claudō (“I shut”); with initial /skl-/, Old High German sliozan (“to lock”) also belongs here.^[5] ESRJa traces them to an Indo-European base Proto-Indo-European *kleu- (“peg, hooked stick”), and Wiktionary to *(s)kleh₂w- (“hook, key, peg”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest quotation in SlRJa XI–XVII, from the Sinai Patericon of the 11th–12th century, has a monk take „ключа житьници” “the keys of the granary”, unlock it and fail to open the door.^[9] A 12th-century Apocalypse speaks of the one „имѣяи клюць Двдвъ” “that hath the key of David”.^[9] Chernykh dates the word from the 11th century, in the senses “key” and “picklock”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian used the word for other hooked or turning things too: a bolt or bar, a boathook (12th century), and a rudder in the Hypatian copy of the chronicle.^[2] The ключьникъ, the keeper of the keys and steward of a household, is named in charters from 1353.^[10] By the 17th century the word also meant a tool for turning or tightening, as in iron vices „с ключем желѣзным” “with an iron key” in 1635.^[9] The adjective ключевой is recorded in dictionaries from 1792.^[2][3]

The figurative sense “means of understanding, solving something” is common in 19th-century writers: Michelson quotes Leskov's „найти ключ къ вашей душевной болѣзни” “to find the key to your mental illness”.^[11] The word also took the musical sense “clef” and the sense “key to a cipher”.^[12] Dal records that cranes fly ключом, in a wedge, and the boat peg for an oar in Arkhangelsk.^[13]

Timeline

• 11th–12th century – ключа житьници “the keys of the granary” in the Sinai Patericon.^[9]
• 12th century – ключь “boathook”.^[2]
• 1353 – ключники “stewards” in a Moscow charter.^[10]
• 1635 – ключ “wrench, turning tool”.^[9]
• 1792 – ключевой first recorded in a dictionary.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A key: a metal rod with notches that opens and closes a lock.^[14][15]
2. A tool for screwing or unscrewing, opening, or setting a mechanism going, as a wrench (гаечный ключ), a clock key or a telegraph key.^[14][1]
3. (figurative) Something that helps to solve or understand a problem, a clue; the key to a cipher.^[14][12]
4. (music) A clef, the sign at the start of a stave: скрипичный ключ “treble clef”.^[14][12]
5. (figurative, в ключе) The tone or manner of something: a story written в мрачном ключе is written in a gloomy vein.^[14][1]

Word family

• ключик
• ключник
• ключница
• ключевой
• заключить

ключ² spring

Pronunciation

• [klʲʉt͡ɕ]^[1]

Forms

ключ (ključ) m inan (genitive ключа́, nominative plural ключи́, genitive plural ключе́й, relational adjective ключево́й)^[1]

Etymology

The spring is inherited from Old East Slavic ключь (ključĭ, “spring, source”).^[16] Shaposhnikov and ESRJa derive it with the suffix ⟨-j-⟩ from an onomatopoeic Proto-Slavic *kľukъ (“sound of a blow; gurgle of water”), continued in Old East Slavic клюкъ (kljukŭ, “bubbling; a bird's cry”).^[16][6] The same sound word is seen in наклюкаться “to get drunk”, Ukrainian клюкати (kljukaty, “to drink hard”) and Bulgarian клюкам (kljukam, “to knock”).^[6] The noun itself is known only in part of East and South Slavic: Bulgarian uses it of the sound of boiling water, and Serbo-Croatian has кључ (ključ, “bubbling of water; river bend”) and кључати (ključati, “to boil, bubble”).^[5][6] Vasmer, like Berneker and Brückner, connects it with клюкать “to make a noise”.^[5]

Vasmer also asks whether it is not the same word as ключ “key”, comparing German ⟨eine Quelle erschließen⟩ “to open up a spring”;^[5] ESRJa does not rule this out either, citing Dal and Shansky.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Shaposhnikov dates ключь “spring” to 1391.^[16] The record is a boundary description in the Novgorod and Pskov charters, in a 16th-century copy of a document of 1391: the boundary runs from the Polvo moss „въ ключъ, да ключовикомъ ручьемъ внизъ” “to the spring, and down the spring-fed brook”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

A 16th-century treatise tells how to dig into a hillside down to the main source „или ключа” “or spring”, and in 1637 a pilgrim describes a spring whose water heals those who drink it.^[9] The phrase бити ключемъ “to bubble, boil hard” appears in 17th- and 18th-century recipes,^[9] and in modern Russian жизнь бьёт ключом means that life is in full swing.^[14] In dialects the word also means a brook (Tambov) and a festival with the blessing of a spring, in Tyumen.^[17]

Timeline

• 1391 (16th-century copy) – въ ключъ “to the spring” in a Novgorod boundary charter.^[9]
• 16th century – источника или ключа “of the source or spring” in a treatise.^[9]
• 1637 – a healing spring in a pilgrim's account.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spring, water flowing out of the ground: из-под камня бьёт ключ “a spring wells up from under the stone”.^[14][16]

Word family

• ключевой