чудь

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cud"

Russian

Etymology

According to Vasmer, the term probably originally referred to Germanic people, and derives from Proto-Slavic *ťuďь (“foreign, strange”), from Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda, “people”); compare to чужо́й (čužój). Alternatively, perhaps related to Sami čuđđe (“enemy”), but that would require early contact between East Slavs and Sami, and the Sami word might rather be a loanword from Slavic.

The Sami word can be explained as a loan from Slavic during the war between Sami and the Čuđek (if this war has any historical evidence).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʉtʲ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: чуть (čutʹ)

Noun

чудь • (čudʹ) f inan (genitive чу́ди, uncountable, relational adjective чудско́й)

1. (collective) Chud
2. (collective, mythology, Urals, Siberia) a legendary people group (extinct or still living a subterranean life), builders of burial mounds and other prehistoric monuments
   • 1865, П. А. Кропоткин, Поездка в Окинский караул:

     Об этих постройках носится предание, вообще очень распространённое в Сибири, что некогда жила тут «чудь» и жила до того времени, пока не стал показываться на горах лес (белая берёза).

     Ob etix postrojkax nositsja predanije, voobšče očenʹ rasprostranjónnoje v Sibiri, što nekogda žila tut «čudʹ» i žila do tovo vremeni, poka ne stal pokazyvatʹsja na gorax les (belaja berjóza).

     There is a legend – a very common one in Siberia – regarding these structures, that long ago the “Chud” lived here, and that they lived until the time when the woods (white birch) first started to grow on the mountains.

Declension

Declension of чудь (inan sg-only fem-form 3rd-decl accent-a) 

	singular
nominative	чу́дь čúdʹ
genitive	чу́ди čúdi
dative	чу́ди čúdi
accusative	чу́дь čúdʹ
instrumental	чу́дью čúdʹju
prepositional	чу́ди čúdi

Related terms

• чудин (čudin)
• чудско́й (čudskój)
• Чудско́е о́зеро (Čudskóje ózero)
• чухна́ (čuxná)
• чухо́нец (čuxónec)
• чучка (čučka)
• tuss (identical creature in Norwegian folklore)

Further reading

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