See also: birka and birkā

Russian edit

 
Бирка на ухе овцы

Etymology edit

Unclear. There are several hypotheses: a borrowing from a North Germanic word for birch, compare to Danish birk, Norwegian bjerk; a Turkic borrowing, compare to Turkish bir + iki (one + two); or a derivation from Old East Slavic събьрати (sŭbĭrati, to assemble) (modern Russian собира́ть (sobirátʹ)), from Proto-Slavic *bьrati (to take).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

би́рка (bírkaf inan (genitive би́рки, nominative plural би́рки, genitive plural би́рок)

  1. nameplate, label, tag
    Synonym: ярлы́к (jarlýk)
  2. (historical) tally stick (notched piece of wood used for keeping an account)

Declension edit

Descendants edit

  • Finnish: pirkka

References edit

  • Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “бирка”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. & suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress