Cossack

See also: cossack

English
Cossacks (military).

Alternative forms

Etymology

Circa 1600, from Middle French cosaque, from Middle Polish Kozak,[1] from Old Ukrainian коза́къ (kozák), from Kipchak *qazaq (whence Armeno-Kipchak խազախ (xazax)), from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰸 (*qazǧaq, “profiteer”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰣𐰢𐰴 (qazǧanmaq, “to acquire”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰢𐰴 (qazmaq, “to dig out”), from Proto-Turkic *kaŕ-.[2] Doublet of Kazakh.

Pronunciation

Noun

Cossack (plural Cossacks)

  1. A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, formed in part of runaways from neighbouring countries, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian tsarist Empire and constituted a military caste, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.
  2. A member of a military unit (typically cavalry, originally recruited exclusively from the above).
  3. (obsolete) A Ukrainian.
  4. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (derogatory) A mercenary; a regular or irregular soldier employed to persecute or oppress disfavoured groups, or in massacres of such groups, such as in anti-Jewish pogroms; a police officer or private security guard, particularly one used in strike-breaking; a violent thug.
    • 1865, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, “Interesting facts”, in A Brief History of Coal Mining, Reclamation and Regulation in Pennsylvania‎, archived from the original on May 12, 2006:
      1865 The Coal and Iron Police are authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to maintain order in the coal fields. The miners referred to these private policemen as "Cossacks" and "Yellow Dogs."
    • 1906, Mildren Allen Beik, “Chapter 3: State Police Called in”, in Remembering the Strike for Union in 1906 in Windber, Pennsylvania‎, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection:
      Southern and eastern European miners and other workers popularly referred to these hated troops as "Cossacks" because they acted like the similarly repressive troops used by the czar against workers in Russia during the Revolution of 1905 and on other occasions. "
    • 1969, Jerome Bixby, Star Trek episode “Day of the Dove”, spoken by Ens. Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), Culver City, Calif.: Desilu Studios; distributed by w:Paramount Television, published 1969:
      COMMANDER KANG (Michael Ansara): We have no devil, Kirk. But we understand the habits of yours. I shall torture you to death one by one until your noble captain cries enough. Who will be first

      CHEKOV (Walter Koenig): Cossacks! Filthy Klingon murderers! You killed my brother Piotr. The Archanis Four research outpost. A hundred peaceful people massacred! Just like you did here. My brother, you killed my brother.

    • 2023, Henry Abramson, “Who Were the Cossacks?”, in My Jewish Learning‎:
      The term “cossacks” is used to describe a class of 17th century Ukrainians, largely peasants, who separated from the burdens of traditional peasant life to form rebel communities at the furthest reaches of Polish-controlled territory. Ukrainians view them as exemplars of their unique national spirit: heroic, non-conformist, and fiercely independent, defending Ukrainian national sovereignty from all enemies. But for Jews, Cossacks are symbols of fear and hatred, the perpetrators of centuries of brutal pogroms.

    Derived terms

    Translations
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    References
    1. Etymology and history of “cosaque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
    2. “Cossack”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

    Anagrams
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