kubasa

The story

1. Proto-Slavic · derived from*kъlbasa
2. Ukrainian · borrowed fromковбаса́“sausage”
3. English todaykubasa

From Ukrainian ковбаса́ (kovbasá /⁠kowbasˈa⁠/, “sausage”, see there for more), a very early Slavic borrowing with no clear antecedent. The Slavic variants (including Polish kiełbasa, whence kielbasa) point to several reconstructed forms from Proto-Slavic *kъlbasa, *klobasa, *kobasa. It is considered most likely to be borrowed from Proto-Turkic *kül + *bastï, literally “ash pressed”; compare Turkish külbastı (“roasted meat”), basmak (“to press”).

Words from the same roots