Etymology
The Cumans' name in Russian and German means 'yellow', in reference to the color of the Cumans' hair. The Ukrainian word 'Polovtsy' (Пóловці) means "blond", since the old Ukrainian word "polovo" means "straw". "Kuman" means "pale yellow" in Turkic.
Few authors put forward that their name referred to "men of the field, steppe" (from the Ukrainian word: pole - open ground, field), not to be confused with polyane (cf. Greek polis - city). In Slavic languages the word 'polyane' literally means 'open, ground, field'. According to O. Suleymenov polovtsy came from a word for "blue-eyed", since the Serbo-Croatian word plav means "blue".
Read more about this topic: Cuman People
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)