Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/cěsta
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This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
Most likely akin to *cěstiti (“to clean”) + *-a. Possibly an old calque of Latin strāta (“paved road”) or Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “street”), which according to Skok explains its limited distribution. According to Derksen, the best etymology is by Zubatý 1894 who connects it with Lithuanian káišti (“to scrape”), Proto-Indo-Iranian *káyćas (“curl of hair”) from Proto-Indo-European *keyḱ- (“to snap”), with "road" being a "worn path" or "flattened/cleared path"; compare Latin via trita (“beaten path, safe path”) and Polish utarta droga.
Alternatively, from pre-Slavic *cětta/*cědta related to Proto-Germanic *haiþī (“heath, wasteland”), Proto-Brythonic *koɨd (“forest”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keyt- (“to cleanse, to cut”) or to Latin scissus (“cut, split”), Ancient Greek σχῐστός (skhĭstós, “cloven, dissected”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keyd- (“to split, to cleave”).
Noun
Declension
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *cě̀sta | *cě̀stě | *cě̀sty |
| genitive | *cě̀sty | *cě̀stu | *cě̀stъ |
| dative | *cě̀stě | *cě̀stama | *cě̀stamъ |
| accusative | *cě̀stǫ | *cě̀stě | *cě̀sty |
| instrumental | *cě̀stojǫ, *cě̀stǭ** | *cě̀stama | *cě̀stamī |
| locative | *cě̀stě | *cě̀stu | *cě̀stasъ, *cě̀staxъ* |
| vocative | *cě̀sto | *cě̀stě | *cě̀sty |
* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).
Related terms
Derived terms
- *cěstiti (“to cleanse, to castrate”)
Descendants
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
Further reading
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1976), “*cěsta”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков (in Russian), numbers 3 (*bratrьcь – *cьrky), Moscow: Nauka, page 188
- Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1976), “*cěsta”, in Słownik prasłowiański (in Polish), volume 2 (caca – davьnota), Wrocław: Ossolineum, page 83
- Skok, Petar (1971) “Proto-Slavic/cěsta”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 1 (A – J), Zagreb: JAZU, page 259
- Alenka Šivic-Dular, Slovanska nomina appellativa za prometnice in njihova arealna distribucija, 2011, Folia onomastica Croatica, No.19, p. 251ff
References
- ^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*cě̀sta”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 76: “f. ā (a) ‘road’”
- ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “cěsta”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 177)”
- ^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “cẹ́sta”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*cě̋sta”