gulag

See also: gułag, gúlag, Gulag, GULAG, and GUŁag

English

WOTD – 11 December 2021

Etymology

Political prisoners at Intalag, a forced labour camp of the gulag (sense 1) near Inta in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, mainly involved in coal-mining.

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”), the government agency in charge of the Soviet Union’s network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960: see GULAG.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡuːlɑɡ/, (sometimes) /-læɡ/, /ɡuːˈlɑk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡuˌlɑɡ/, (sometimes) /-ˌlæɡ/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɑːk
• Hyphenation: gu‧lag

Noun

gulag (plural gulags)

1. (historical) Also GULAG: the system of all Soviet labour camps and prisons in use, especially during the Stalinist period (1930s–1950s).
   • [2006?], David Hosford, Pamela Kachurin, Thomas Lamont, “Day 1 Content Essay: The Establishment and Scope of the GULAG System”, in GULAG: Soviet Prison Camps and Their Legacy […]‎^[1], [U.S.A.]: National Park Service; Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 October 2021, page 7, column 1:

     One important difference between the GULAG system and the Nazi concentration camps was that a person sentenced to five years of hard labor in a Soviet labor camp could expect, assuming he or she survived, to be released at the end of the sentence.

2. (by extension)
   1. A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.
   2. (also figuratively) A place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed.

Alternative forms

• Gulag
• GULAG

Derived terms

• gulaglike

Translations

system of all Soviet labour camps and prisons in use, especially during the Stalinist period (1930s–1950s)

• Afrikaans: goelag
• Arabic: غُولَاغ m (ḡulāḡ), جُولَاج m (gulāg), مُعَسْكَر عَمْل m (muʕaskar ʕaml)
• Armenian: Գուլագ (Gulag)
• Asturian: gulag
• Azerbaijani: Qulaq, qulaq (az)
• Basque: gulag (eu)
• Belarusian: ГУЛА́Г m (HULÁH), гула́г m (huláh)
• Breton: goulag
• Catalan: gulag m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 古拉格 (zh) (gǔlāgé)

• Czech: gulag
• Danish: gulaglejr c
• Dutch: goelag (nl) m
• Esperanto: gulago
• Estonian: Gulag (et)
• Finnish: gulag (fi), vankileiri (fi)
• French: goulag (fr) m
• Galician: gulag
• Georgian: გულაგი (gulagi)
• German: Gulag (de) m, Gulag (de) n (rare), GULag m
• Greek: γκουλάγκ (el) m (gkoulágk)
• Hebrew: גולאג
• Hindi: गूलाग (gūlāg)
• Hungarian: gulag
• Icelandic: gúlag
• Ido: gulag (io)
• Indonesian: gulag
• Japanese: グラグ (guragu), グラーグ (gurāgu)
• Korean: 굴락 (gullak), 굴라크 (ko) (gullakeu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gulag (ku) f

• Latvian: Gulags m
• Lithuanian: Gulagas m
• Macedonian: гулаг (gulag)
• Marathi: गुलाग (gulāg)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gulag

  Nynorsk: gulag

• Persian: گولاگ (fa) (gulâg)
• Polish: gułag (pl) m, GUŁag m
• Portuguese: gulag (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਗੁਲਾਗ (gulāg)
• Romanian: gulag
• Russian: ГУЛА́Г (ru) m (GULÁG), ГУЛа́г (GULág), Гула́г (Gulág), гула́г m (gulág)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гу̏ла̄г (sh) m

  Roman: gȕlāg (sh) m

• Slovak: gulag (sk)
• Slovene: gulag
• Spanish: gulag (es) m
• Swedish: gulag
• Thai: กูลัก
• Turkish: gulag
• Ukrainian: ГУЛА́Г m (HULÁH), ГУТА́Б m (HUTÁB), гула́г m (huláh), гута́б m (hutáb)
• Urdu: گولاگ m (gūlāg)
• Uzbek: Gulag, gulag
• Western Panjabi: گولاگ (golāg)
• Yiddish: גולאַג m (gulag)

prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners — see prison camp

place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed

• Marathi: गुलाग m (gulāg)

Verb

gulag (third-person singular simple present gulags, present participle gulaging or gulagging, simple past and past participle gulaged or gulagged)

1. (transitive, informal, also figuratively) To compel (someone) into a forced labour camp or a similar place of confinement or exile.
   • 1988, Sue Curry Jansen, Censorship: The Knot that Binds Power and Knowledge (Communication and Society), New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8:

     Regulative censorships can be amended or revolutionized in ways that raise or lower bodycounts, numbers of books banned or citizens ghettoed or gulaged.

   • 1993 September, Nelson George, “Haywired”, in Jonathan Van Meter, editor, Vibe, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc. Ventures, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 116, column 3:

     The marriage would be the last good thing in [Spencer] Haywood's life for a long time. He was gulaged to basketball Siberia—the now-defunct New Orleans franchise—for his failure to resurrect the Knicks, but at [Kareem Abdul-]Jabbar's urging the Lakers acquired him in 1980.

   • 1998, Peter Makuck, “Dangerous Difference: W[illiam] D[e Witt] Snodgrass’s The Death of Cock Robin”, in Philip Raisor, editor, Tuned and Under Tension: The Recent Poetry of W. D. Snodgrass, Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press; London: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 31:

     Such a situation touches off in the reader a powerful sense of historical déjà vu: witch hunts, Gestapo roundups, the McCarthy era, Argentinian death squads, [Francisco] Franco and the murder of [Federico] Garcia Lorca, the KGB and the disappearance of Isaac Babel, the gulagging of Osip Mandelstam and Anna Akhmatova, to name just a few.

   • 2001, Larry Gross, “Journalism’s Closet Opens”, in Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America (Between Men—Between Women), New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 118:

     [Abraham Michael] Rosenthal's reign was described by many as a period of paranoia and terror at the [New York] Times—one reporter said, "He was like the Czar; people would get gulaged at the drop of a hat."

   • 2012 October, Paul Kengor, “Frank’s Writings in the Chicago Star (1946–48)”, in The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor, New York, N.Y.: Threshold Editions/Mercury Ink, →ISBN, page 138:

     He wanted American Christians to pay reverence to the greater glory of the USSR, which, in his mind, was not a nation blowing up churches, gulaging the religious, shooting priests, locking up nuns with prostitutes—declaring nus "whores to Christ"—and pursuing what Mikhail Gorbachev later correctly described as a "war on religion."

   • 2017, Susan S. M. Edwards, “Cyber-grooming Young Women for Terrorist Activity: Dominant and Subjugated Explanatory Narratives”, in Emilio C. Viano, editor, Cybercrime, Organized Crime, and Societal Responses: International Approaches, Cham, Switzerland=: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 30:

     Knowledge that does not serve the state ideological apparatus or the dominant ruling, economic, intellectual or political force is knowledge or ideas that are consciously suppressed and "gulaged".

   • 2019, Jal Mehta, Sarah Fine, “The Progressive Frontier: Project-based Learning”, in In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School, Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 52:

     The kids of high socioeconomic status were on the fifth floor, the lowest on the ground floor. The Technical Arts building had the Cape Verdeans and the Haitians … all of whom were Gulagged there in a building which they not-so-ironically called "the island."

   • 2020, Fady Joudah, “Your Name is on the List and Other Vignettes”, in Pauline Kaldas, Khaled Mattawa, editors, Beyond Memory: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Creative Nonfiction, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 116:

     For Dad, home had been pulverized, reduced repeatedly to its nuclear constituents. As if he'd been gulagged to the Big Bang of belonging. An imaginary time, without boundary, without beginning or end.

Translations

to compel (someone) into a forced labour camp or a similar place of confinement or exile

• French: goulaguer (fr)

Further reading

• gulag on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “gulag”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “gulag” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Finnish

Etymology

Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡulɑɡ/, [ˈɡulɑ̝ɡ]
• Rhymes: -ulɑɡ
• Syllabification^(key): gu‧lag

Noun

gulag

1. gulag

Declension

Inflection of gulag (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		gulag	gulagit
genitive		gulagin	gulagien
partitive		gulagia	gulageja
illative		gulagiin	gulageihin
		singular	plural
nominative		gulag	gulagit
accusative	nom.	gulag	gulagit
	gen.	gulagin
genitive		gulagin	gulagien
partitive		gulagia	gulageja
inessive		gulagissa	gulageissa
elative		gulagista	gulageista
illative		gulagiin	gulageihin
adessive		gulagilla	gulageilla
ablative		gulagilta	gulageilta
allative		gulagille	gulageille
essive		gulagina	gulageina
translative		gulagiksi	gulageiksi
abessive		gulagitta	gulageitta
instructive		—	gulagein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of gulag (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative gulagini gulagini accusative nom. gulagini gulagini gen. gulagini genitive gulagini gulagieni partitive gulagiani gulagejani inessive gulagissani gulageissani elative gulagistani gulageistani illative gulagiini gulageihini adessive gulagillani gulageillani ablative gulagiltani gulageiltani allative gulagilleni gulageilleni essive gulaginani gulageinani translative gulagikseni gulageikseni abessive gulagittani gulageittani instructive — — comitative — gulageineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative gulagisi gulagisi accusative nom. gulagisi gulagisi gen. gulagisi genitive gulagisi gulagiesi partitive gulagiasi gulagejasi inessive gulagissasi gulageissasi elative gulagistasi gulageistasi illative gulagiisi gulageihisi adessive gulagillasi gulageillasi ablative gulagiltasi gulageiltasi allative gulagillesi gulageillesi essive gulaginasi gulageinasi translative gulagiksesi gulageiksesi abessive gulagittasi gulageittasi instructive — — comitative — gulageinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative gulagimme gulagimme accusative nom. gulagimme gulagimme gen. gulagimme genitive gulagimme gulagiemme partitive gulagiamme gulagejamme inessive gulagissamme gulageissamme elative gulagistamme gulageistamme illative gulagiimme gulageihimme adessive gulagillamme gulageillamme ablative gulagiltamme gulageiltamme allative gulagillemme gulageillemme essive gulaginamme gulageinamme translative gulagiksemme gulageiksemme abessive gulagittamme gulageittamme instructive — — comitative — gulageinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative gulaginne gulaginne accusative nom. gulaginne gulaginne gen. gulaginne genitive gulaginne gulagienne partitive gulagianne gulagejanne inessive gulagissanne gulageissanne elative gulagistanne gulageistanne illative gulagiinne gulageihinne adessive gulagillanne gulageillanne ablative gulagiltanne gulageiltanne allative gulagillenne gulageillenne essive gulaginanne gulageinanne translative gulagiksenne gulageiksenne abessive gulagittanne gulageittanne instructive — — comitative — gulageinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative gulaginsa gulaginsa accusative nom. gulaginsa gulaginsa gen. gulaginsa genitive gulaginsa gulagiensa partitive gulagiaan gulagiansa gulagejaan gulagejansa inessive gulagissaan gulagissansa gulageissaan gulageissansa elative gulagistaan gulagistansa gulageistaan gulageistansa illative gulagiinsa gulageihinsa adessive gulagillaan gulagillansa gulageillaan gulageillansa ablative gulagiltaan gulagiltansa gulageiltaan gulageiltansa allative gulagilleen gulagillensa gulageilleen gulageillensa essive gulaginaan gulaginansa gulageinaan gulageinansa translative gulagikseen gulagiksensa gulageikseen gulageiksensa abessive gulagittaan gulagittansa gulageittaan gulageittansa instructive — — comitative — gulageineen gulageinensa

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ɡu.la.ɡuˈi/ [ɡu.la.ɡʊˈi], /ɡu.laˈɡi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɡu.lɐˈɡi/ [ɡu.lɐˈɣi]

• Hyphenation: gu‧lag

Noun

gulag m (plural gulags)

1. gulag (Soviet labour camp)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛАГ (GULAG).

Noun

gulag n (plural gulaguri)

1. gulag

Declension

Declension of gulag

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) gulag	gulagul	(niște) gulaguri	gulagurile
genitive/dative	(unui) gulag	gulagului	(unor) gulaguri	gulagurilor
vocative	gulagule		gulagurilor

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkulak]

Noun

gulag m inan (genitive singular gulagu, nominative plural gulagy, genitive plural gulagov, declension pattern of dub)

1. gulag

Declension

Declension of gulag (pattern dub)

	singular	plural
nominative	gulag	gulagy
genitive	gulagu	gulagov
dative	gulagu	gulagom
accusative	gulag	gulagy
locative	gulagu	gulagoch
instrumental	gulagom	gulagmi

Further reading

• “gulag”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuˈlaɡ/ [ɡuˈlaɣ̞]
• Rhymes: -aɡ
• Syllabification: gu‧lag

Noun

gulag m (plural gulags)

1. gulag

Further reading

• “gulag”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28