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  What it means

  Literally “the cock crowed.” Means it’s very early in the morning — before dawn, at the crack of dawn. Also used figuratively for a sudden awakening or a signal that time is up.

  Vocabulary

  • kur — cock, rooster (archaic/poetic form of kogut)
  • zapiać — to crow (of a rooster)

  Grammar note

  'Zapiał' is masculine past perfective of 'zapiać'. 'Kur' is an archaic/literary form — 'kogut' is the everyday word for rooster.

  Cultural context

  The crowing rooster as a signal of dawn is deeply embedded in Polish folk and religious culture — in the Passion narrative, Peter denies Christ three times before the cock crows.

  Intermediate

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