Etymology Map
Back to all words

Cossack

4 stages from Turkic to English.

Today it means a member of the free warrior communities of the Ukrainian and Russian steppe frontier

Where does the word "cossack" come from? It comes from Turkic qazaq, passing through Ukrainian and Russian before entering English (1590s).

1
Stage 1 of 4
qazaq
Turkic · medieval
"free man, vagabond"
used of men who left their tribe to live free on the steppe; the name 'Kazakh' comes from the same word
2
Stage 2 of 4
kozak
Ukrainian · 1400s-1500s
"frontier warrior"
frontier warrior communities formed the Zaporozhian Host, based on islands below the Dnieper rapids from the 1550s
3
Stage 3 of 4
kazak
Russian · 1500s
"Cossack"
Don Cossacks and others guarded and pushed forward Russia's steppe frontier, later leading the conquest of Siberia
4
Stage 4 of 4
cossack
English · 1590s
"a Cossack warrior"
first recorded in English accounts of Russia and Poland
Drag to pan · scroll to zoom
Read the full story

Cossack’s story begins in Turkic: qazaq meant “free man, vagabond.” Used of men who left their tribe to live free on the steppe; the name 'Kazakh' comes from the same word. By 1400s-1500s, the word had taken hold in Ukrainian as kozak. Frontier warrior communities formed the Zaporozhian Host, based on islands below the Dnieper rapids from the 1550s. From there it passed into Russian as kazak by 1500s. Don Cossacks and others guarded and pushed forward Russia's steppe frontier, later leading the conquest of Siberia. It reached English by 1590s as cossack. First recorded in English accounts of Russia and Poland. Today, cossack means a member of the free warrior communities of the Ukrainian and Russian steppe frontier.