koumiss

English

Etymology

Via French koumis, German Kumiss, from Russian кумы́с (kumýs), borrowed from a Turkic source. Compare Tatar кымыз (qımız), Kazakh қымыз (qymyz), Kyrgyz кымыз (kımız), Northern Altai кымыс (kïmïs), Turkish kımız, Azerbaijani qımız.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːmɪs/

Noun

koumiss (usually uncountable, plural koumisses)

1. A fermented drink made from mare's milk, common among peoples of the Central Asian steppes.
   • 1898, Herbert Allen Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, page 12:

     [Of a Persian wine] One name for this wine was 黑水晶 "black crystal"; it has also been confused with koumiss.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, page 688:

     Here, for example—a Scythian koumiss vessel, third century B.C. You can clearly see the Greek influence, especially in the friezework.

Alternative forms

• koumis, koumys, koumyss, kumis, kumiss, kumisz, kumys, kymys, kymyz

Translations

fermented drink

• Arabic: كُومِيس m (kūmīs)
• Armenian: կումիս (hy) (kumis)
• Azerbaijani: qımız
• Bashkir: ҡымыҙ (qımıź)
• Belarusian: кумы́с m (kumýs)
• Bulgarian: куми́с m (kumís)
• Buryat: сэгээ (segee)
• Catalan: kumis m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬奶酒／马奶酒 (zh) (mǎnǎijiǔ)

• Czech: kumys m
• Dutch: koemis
• Esperanto: kumiso
• Faroese: kumys n
• Finnish: kumissi (fi)
• French: koumis (fr) m
• Georgian: კუმისი (ḳumisi)
• German: Kumys m
• Hebrew: קומיס m (qimis)
• Hungarian: kumisz (hu)
• Italian: kumis m
• Japanese: 馬乳酒 (ばにゅうしゅ, banyūshu), クミス (kumisu)
• Kazakh: қымыз (kk) (qymyz)
• Khakas: хымыс (xımıs)
• Korean: 마유주(馬乳酒) (mayuju), 쿠미스 (kumiseu)
• Kumyk: къымыз (qımız)
• Kyrgyz: кымыз (ky) (kımız)
• Latin: cosmos
• Lithuanian: kumysas
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: айраг (mn) (ajrag), цэгээ (mn) (cegee)

  Mongolian: ᠠᠶᠢᠷᠠᠭ (ayirag), ᠴᠡᠭᠡ (čege)

• Nogai: кымыз (kımız)
• Northern Altai: кымыс (kïmïs)
• Persian: کومیس (kumis), قمیز (fa) (qemiz)
• Piedmontese: koumyss
• Polish: kumys (pl) m
• Portuguese: kumis (pt) m
• Russian: кумы́с (ru) m (kumýs)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Shor: қымыс
• Slovak: kumys (sk) m
• Spanish: kumis (es) m
• Swedish: kumys, kumiss
• Tatar: кымыз (tt) (qımız)
• Turkish: kımız (tr)
• Turkmen: gymyz
• Tuvan: хымыс (xımıs)
• Ukrainian: куми́с m (kumýs)
• Uyghur: قىمىز (qimiz)
• Uzbek: qimiz (uz)
• Vietnamese: rượu sữa ngựa
• Welsh: cwmis m, gwirod llaeth m
• Yakut: кымыс (kımıs)