дёготь

Russian

Likely a Baltic borrowing (cf. Lithuanian degùtas : dègti; Latvian deguts (“birch tar”) : degt). Absent in the South Slavic languages. Compare жечь (žečʹ).

Non-Slavic cognates include Ancient Greek θεπτανός (theptanós), Latin foveō (“warm”), Sanskrit दहति (dahati, “burn”).

дёготь • (djógotʹ) m inan (genitive дёгтя, nominative plural дёгти, genitive plural дёгтей)

tar, pitch
- 1892, Антон Чехов [Anton Chekhov], Страх; English translation from Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, transl., Fear, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2020:
  Купи́вши сы́ру, похо́жего на мы́ло, и окамене́лой колбасы́, от кото́рой па́хло дё́гтем, мы отпра́вились в тракти́р спроси́ть, нет ли пи́ва.
  Kupívši sýru, poxóževo na mýlo, i okamenéloj kolbasý, ot kotóroj páxlo djógtem, my otprávilisʹ v traktír sprosítʹ, net li píva.
  We bought cheese that resembled soap and petrified sausage that smelled of tar, then went to the inn to ask if they had beer.

In the oblique cases, the г used to be pronounced like х: дёгтя = djóxtja. This pronunciation is now considered dated.

Pre-reform declension of дёготь (inan masc-form soft-stem accent-a reduc)