Etymograph

English

Moscow

Moscow may come from Proto-Slavic *mosky ‘swamp, dampness, moisture’.

  1. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*mosky‘swamp, dampness, moisture’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1917Moscow

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*mosky‘swamp, dampness, moisture’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1917Moscow

Earliest quotation: 1917, Anton Chekhov, The Darling and Other Stories: “The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had…”

The story

Perhaps related to Czech moskva (‘raw bread’), Slovak mozga (‘puddle’), Polish Mozgawa, and more distantly Latvian mazgāt (‘to wash, rinse’), Sanskrit मज्जति (májjati, “to sink”), Latin mergō (‘to dive’), all from Proto-Indo-European *mesg- (‘to plunge, dip’).

Every English word from Proto-Slavic *mosky

Today it means

name A federal city, the capital and largest city of Russia.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Slavic *mosky / Moscow

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