The Chuvash language contains many words lacking a clear etymological relation to the Turco-Tatar languages (of which the Chuvash is a member) as well as to the neighbouring Finno-Ugrian languages. One of these odd expressions is the word for “knife”, zězě, which, according to Ashmarin's Thesaurus Linguæ Tschuvaschorum (vol. xiii, pp. 109–110), has no derivations in this language. Among the examples of the use shown there, one is of some interest for students of folklore and may therefore be inserted here in translation: “Having buried the maid they put a knife at her head, saying: Cut thou with this knife the bread yonder; and they put a needle and thread, saying: Sew the chemises with them.”