The word ‘poka’ became a farewell, thanks to the idea of temporariness

The word ‘poka’ (‘пока’) is unique among European languages. It is a conjunction or adverb that denotes a time frame: “Poka ya gotovil, on smotrel televizor.” (“While I was cooking, he was watching TV.”) or “Budu zhdat, poka my ne vstretimsya vnov.” (“I’ll wait until we meet again.”). And, over time, it became a way to say goodbye.

In colloquial speech, people began to shorten long polite formulas and would simply say: “Nu, poka!” (“Well, bye for now!”). The listener would mentally understand it to mean: “Until we meet again.”

This word became widespread in the 20th century, during Soviet times, when the pace of life was accelerating dramatically. ‘Poka’ is a less formal farewell than ‘do svidaniya’ (‘goodbye’) and implies that people will see each other again soon.