Notes on the golden horde diplomatic ceremonial: The origin of the wordKorešin Russian slang

Abstract

The article deals with the word koreš ‘close friend’ used in Russian cant. It comes from the Russian verb koreševat’sja ‘to greet each other friendly, to establish friendship and close relations’ that, in turn, has its origin in the Turkic verb körüš- ‘to see each other, to have an audience’. The diplomatic ceremony of koreševan’e ‘a kind of very close embrace’ was common in the Golden Horde and its successor states — the Khanates of the Crimea, Kazan and Astrakhan, the Noghay Horde and Muscovy, at least up to the end of the 16th century. Soon the word koreš (literally:’ a man participating in the ceremony of koreševan’e’) with the meaning ‘true and close friend’ was ejected to the sphere of Russian slang and acquired a secondary, alleged link with the Russian word koren’ ‘root’ as if it were its pseudo-diminutive form.