katorga

See also: katorgą

English

Etymology

From Russian ка́торга (kátorga, “penal servitude”).

Noun

katorga (countable and uncountable, plural katorgas)

1. Penal servitude in a Russian or Soviet labour camp.
   • 1912, Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist:

     Sentenced to ten years of hard labor in the Siberian mines, he defied the Russian tyrant by his funeral oration at the grave of Dmokhovsky, his boldness resulting in an additional fifteen years of katorga.

   • 1991, Alan Wood, The History of Siberia: from Russian conquest to revolution:

     However, brutal floggings, increased terms of katorga, starvation diets, permanent chaining to a wheelbarrow and other fearsome sanctions failed to staunch the flow.

   • 2007, Edward Crankshaw, Cracks in the Kremlin Wall:

     Under the Bolsheviks there was going to be an end to the katorga.

2. A Tsarist or Soviet labour camp.

Translations

penal servitude in a Russian or Soviet labour camp

• Belarusian: ка́тарга f (kátarha)
• Bulgarian: ка́торга (bg) f (kátorga)
• Polish: katorga (pl) f
• Portuguese: katorga (pt) f
• Russian: ка́торга (ru) f (kátorga)
• Ukrainian: ка́торга (uk) f (kátorha)
• Yakut: хаатырга (qaatırga)

a Tsarist or Soviet labour camp

• Portuguese: katorga (pt) f
• Russian: ка́торга (ru) f (kátorga)
• Yakut: хаатырга (qaatırga)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ка́торга (kátorga), from Byzantine Greek κάτεργον (kátergon, “galley; penal labor”), from Ancient Greek κάτεργος (kátergos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈtɔr.ɡa/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrɡa
• Syllabification: ka‧tor‧ga

Noun

katorga f

1. (historical, Soviet Union) katorga (penal servitude in a Russian or Soviet labour camp)
2. chore

Declension

Declension of katorga

	singular	plural
nominative	katorga	katorgi
genitive	katorgi	katorg
dative	katordze	katorgom
accusative	katorgę	katorgi
instrumental	katorgą	katorgami
locative	katordze	katorgach
vocative	katorgo	katorgi

Derived terms

adjective

• katorżny

 

noun

• katorżnik

 

Related terms

adjective

• katorżniczy

 

Further reading

• katorga in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• katorga in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Noun

katorga f (plural katorgas)

1. (historical) katorga (penal servitude in a Russian or Soviet labour camp)
2. (historical) katorga (a Tsarist or Soviet labour camp)