Kabajantsik Ja Vorlontsik

kabajantsik and vorlontsik Vocabulary researchers have repeatedly discussed the origins of the Estonian words kabajantsik ‘vagabond, crook, suspicious person’ and vorlontsik ‘idler, loafer’, yet no convincing etymological explanation has emerged. This brief article explores, based on a wealth of background material, the possibility that these words originate from Russian. For kabajantsik, the likely Russian loan source, in the author’s view, is the Pskov dialect word каба́щик (каба́ччик), cf. кабатчик meaning ‘innkeeper, tavern keeper’. The Votic word kabatšikk(a) ‘innkeeper’ also derives from the same source. vorlontsik is probably borrowed from a word family that includes the Russian dialect forms (from Pskov and Northwest Russia) ворлыха́н ‘thievish person, crook’, ворлы́га ‘thief’, and варлы́га ‘lazy person, loafer; a person with a changeable mind

Business · Research in Social Sciences