верста

Inherited from Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta), from Proto-Slavic *vьrsta. Cognate with Ukrainian верства́ (verstvá), Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta, “age, couple, age-mate, verst (measure of length)”), Old Church Slavonic врьста (vrĭsta, “age”), Bulgarian връст (vrǎst, “age”), Serbo-Croatian вр́ста (“row, type”), Slovene vŕsta (“row, string, type, age”) (tonal orthography), vȓst (“row, type”) (tonal orthography), Czech vrstva (“layer”), Slovak vrstva, Polish warstwa (“row, layer”), Upper Sorbian woršta. Cognate with Russian верте́ть (vertétʹ, “to turn”); per Vasmer, the initial meaning was "turning over of a plow". Further cognate with Lithuanian var̃stas (“verst, distance plowed at one time in one direction”) (also varsnà), participial vir̃stas, Oscan vorsus (“measure of arable land”, literally “turning over”), Latin versus (earlier vorsus), Sanskrit वृत्त (vṛttá, “round, twisted”). Compare све́рстник (svérstnik, “coeval, age-mate”).

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верста́ • (verstá) f inan (genitive версты́, nominative plural вёрсты, genitive plural вёрст, relational adjective верстово́й)

1. (dated) verst (unit of length equal to 1,066.8 m), used in many expressions

   За версту́ ви́дно (слы́шно, па́хнет) ― Za verstú vídno (slýšno, páxnet) ― One can see (hear, smell) (from) a mile away

   обходи́ть за версту́ (idiom) ― obxodítʹ za verstú ― avoid like the plague

   • 1836, Александр Пушкин, “Глава III. Крепость”, in Капитанская дочка, London: Henry S. King & Co.; English translation from Ekaterina Telfer, transl., The Captain's Daughter, 1875:

     Белогорская крепость находилась в сорока верстах от Оренбурга.

     Belogorskaja krepostʹ naxodilasʹ v soroka verstax ot Orenburga.

     The fortress of Byĕlogorsk was situated at a distance of forty versts from Orenburg.

2. (dated) verst-post, milepost, milestone

   Synonym: верстово́й столб (verstovój stolb)

3. (colloquial) kilometre

• верстово́й (verstovój)
• верстоме́р (verstomér)
• многовёрстный (mnogovjórstnyj)
• све́рстник (svérstnik)

• верста́ть impf (verstátʹ), сверста́ть pf (sverstátʹ)
• навёрстывать impf (navjórstyvatʹ), наверста́ть pf (naverstátʹ)
• верста́льщик m (verstálʹščik)
• вёрстка f (vjórstka)

• → Armenian: վերստ (verst)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “верста”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress