Etymograph

English

chinovnik

Chinovnik comes from Russian чиновник ‘official, functionary, bureaucrat’, from Proto-Slavic *činъ ‘dignity’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-‘to pay’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*činъ‘dignity’reconstructed
  3. Old East Slavicmodernчинъ
  4. Russianmodernчин‘official’
  5. Russian, derivedmodernчиновникčinovnik‘official, functionary, bureaucrat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1998chinovnik

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-‘to pay’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*činъ‘dignity’reconstructed
  3. Old East Slavicmodernчинъ
  4. Russianmodernчин‘official’
  5. Russian, derivedmodernчиновникčinovnik‘official, functionary, bureaucrat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1998chinovnik

Earliest quotation: 1998, Nikolai Bukharin, How It All Began: The Prison Novel: “Ivan Antonych was probably the only one of the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’

pain, penalty, poetry, poem, poet, punishment, pine, punish, penal, titanium, subpoena, punitive, whey, impunity, onomatopoeia, 21 more

Today it means

noun A minor functionary or mere bureaucrat in the Russian government.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- / chinovnik

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