Galunka что это – the origin and meaning of the Ukrainian word

Doctor of philosophy in the field of law, Ukrainian regional historian Iosif Osetskyi in his work “Indo-European Etymology of Named Ritual Easter Eggs in the Light of Ethnolinguistics and System Analysis” talked about the origin of the named Easter attributes. So let’s find out when and how the “halunka” appeared and how it differs from “pisanka” and “krashanka”.

The scientist emphasized that in the morphological and phonetic structure of the names “pysanka”, “halunka” and “krashanka” we trace the common Indo-European word “ka”, which means “sun”, “joy”. And in the words “pisanka” and “krashanka” there is also the element “-an-” – probably, this is a relic of the Indo-European noun “andya” – an egg.

“Galunks” are often found in the southern part of the Chernivtsi region, that is, closer to Bessarabia. Easter eggs, which are dyed with vegetable dyes, are called “halunks”. This name is also found in the Transnistrian territories of the Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, and Vinnytsia regions.

Ossetskyi analyzed this word and determined that it contains important Indo-European words “galaa” (earth; water) and “unna” (wet).

“This gives reason to see that the Easter egg “galaa-unna-ka” was a talisman and appeal to the three elements: Earth, Water and the Sun,” Ossetsky noted. According to him, Easter eggs were often called “halunks” by farmers, and Easter eggs and Easter eggs by cattle breeders.

The scientist added that the “unna-” element correlates with the custom of wet Mondays. According to this tradition, on the second day of Easter, each other was doused with water for the purpose of “spring cleaning”.

“Purely from a linguistic point of view, it cannot be ruled out that in the earliest version this word-sentence could have a more complete structure: “galaa-unna-andya-ka” with the meaning “earth-water-egg-sun”. However, it is overloaded with coincidences of consonants the sound of the word made the pronunciation and perception too complicated,” the scientist said.

In this way, the sounds and letters were simplified, and the familiar “halunka” turned out.

Scientists say that Ukrainians inherited the names of Easter eggs from their ancestors during the Neolithic or Tripoli civilization (VI-III millennium BC). The words “pysanka”, “krashanka” and “halunka” arose taking into account the economic and spiritual needs of that time.

In the name “pysanka” there are signs of the Indo-European words “pesh” or “pesha”, meaning decoration or ornament. And in the lexeme “krashanka” it is possible to trace the elements of the words “kriyaa” – “rite of sacrifice” and “asan” – “blood”.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that the word “krashanka” is mistakenly considered a Russianism – it has nothing in common with the verb “krasit”.

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