тюрьма

Russian

Etymology

Inherited from Old East Slavic тюрма (tjurma), traditionally believed to be derived from Polish turma, from Middle High German turm, turn, from Old French *torn, from Latin turrem/turrim, accusative singular of turris, whence English tower. But more likely from Proto-Turkic *türmä (dungeon); compare Tatar төрмә (törmä, prison), Kyrgyz түрмө (türmö, prison).

Cognate with Ukrainian тюрма (tjurma).

For the fortress and jail meanings relation, compare typologically остро́г (ostróg); бастио́н (bastión), басти́лия (bastílija) (English bastion, bastille); донжо́н (donžón) (English dungeon, donjon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [tʲʉrʲˈma]
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

тюрьма́ • (tjurʹmáf inan (genitive тюрьмы́, nominative plural тю́рьмы, genitive plural тю́рем, relational adjective тюре́мный, diminutive тюря́чка, augmentative тюря́га)

  1. prison, jail
    (Anticorisms:) Synonym: тюря́га (tjurjága)
    Synonyms: казённый дом (kazjónnyj dom) (euphemistic), темни́ца (temníca) (dated)
    загреме́ть в тюрьму́zagremétʹ v tjurʹmúto land in prison

Declension

Derived terms

Proverbs
  • от сумы́ да от тюрьмы́ не зарека́йся (ot sumý da ot tjurʹmý ne zarekájsja)

Related via Latin turris:

  • тура́ f (turá)
  • туре́ль f (turélʹ)

Descendants

  • Azerbaijani: türmə
  • Estonian: türm
  • Finnish: tyrmä
  • Ingrian: tyrmä
  • Kalmyk: түүрм (tüürm)
  • Kildin Sami: туррьм (turr’m)
  • Yakut: түрмэ (türme)
  • Yiddish: טורמעס (turmes)

References

  • Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “тюрьма”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress

Further reading