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ключ

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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
  • включить
  • выключить
  • клюка
  • клюшка
  • уключина
  • Old East Slavic ключь (ključĭ)

Usage notes

Both words are stressed on the ending in the oblique cases: ключа́, ключи́.[1] Бить ключом is “to gush out”, and figuratively “to be in full swing”.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ключ
  3. ^ a b c d Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 402
  4. ^ Sławski, Franciszek; Boryś, Wiesław et al. (eds.) (1974–2024), Słownik prasłowiański, vols. I–VIII, X–XI, Wrocław: Ossolineum / Warszawa: Instytut Slawistyki PAN, p. 2, 140
  5. ^ 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. 2, 258
  6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 8, s.v. ключ
  7. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Ivanov, V. V.; Shanskaya, T. V. (1975), Kratkij ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка], 3rd ed., Moskva: Prosveščenie, p. s.v. ключ
  8. ^ Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. ключ
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 7, 187
  10. ^ a b 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. 4, 226
  11. ^ Michelson, M. I. (1902–1903), Russkaja mysl' i reč'. Svoe i čužoe. Opyt russkoj frazeologii [Русская мысль и речь. Свое и чужое. Опыт русской фразеологии], 2 vols., Sankt-Peterburg, p. s.v. ключ
  12. ^ a b c Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. ключ
  13. ^ Dal', V. I. (1880–1882), Tolkovyj slovar' živago velikorusskago jazyka [Толковый словарь живаго великорусскаго языка], 2nd ed., 4 vols., Sankt-Peterburg / Moskva: M. O. Vol'f, p. s.v. ключ
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. ключ
  15. ^ 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. ключ
  16. ^ a b c d Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 403
  17. ^ 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. 13, 322