Translation
sausage
Word origin
A Slavic borrowing: Russian kolbasá, Polish kiełbasa, Czech klobása. The word is old enough in Slavic that its own source is unsettled, and the two standing candidates are below.
- Origin
- Slavic
- Root
- kolbasá
- English cognates
- kielbasa
Other proposed origins
- The account most etymologists prefer takes it from Turkic kulbasti, a grilled cutlet, literally pressed on the ashes, from kul (ash) and bas- (to press). (Turkic, kulbasti)
- An older suggestion routes it through Jewish butchers from Hebrew kol basar, all flesh. It is still repeated but is generally judged weak on chronology and geography. (Hebrew, kol basar)
Examples
.
We ate bread with sausage and cheese.
.
The sausages are on the fire.
.
I bought two sausages in the shop.
One root, and it is worth saying so, because looks assembled. The eye offers (a neck) plus baso (a bass), which would make a sausage a low-pitched neck. The boundary is a mirage: /o is a single Slavic borrowing and neither half means anything on its own.
Every Slavic language has the word, which is how it reached Esperanto: Russian kolbasá, Polish kiełbasa, Czech klobása, Serbo-Croatian kobasica. Where Slavic itself got it is genuinely unsettled, and this page gives both of the candidates rather than picking one and pretending.
For the kitchen: a is the sausage as an object, so it takes an ordinary plural, . If you want sausage as a substance on a plate the usual move is o, though most speakers just say and get on with lunch.
Where this fits
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kolbaso: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "kolbaso" (sausage): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 47.