Kubyshka is an early East Slavic ceramic jar or pot with narrow hole, short or absent neck and wide, rounded body.[1] In the past the term kubyshka, a diminutive derivation from the word Куб (kub) in the generic meaning of "container",[2] had a broader meaning of various rounded containers, e.g. a barrel[1] or birch bark kubyshka.[3]
The word has become associated with buried hoards[4] and is used in a number of idioms associated with hoarding or reserve saving (держать в кубышке (keep in a kubyshka), класть в кубышку (put into a kubyshka), etc.).
The word is also used as a euphemism or a nickname for a short, plump person.[5] For example, in Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella, a wicked stepsister's nickname Kubyshka was variously translated as Fatty,[6] Dumpy, etc. Princess Anastasia, the daughter of tsar Nicholas II of Russia was nicknamed "Kubyshka". [7]