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свидетель. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
свидетель, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
свидетель in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
свидетель you have here. The definition of the word
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Russian
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic съвѣдѣтель (sŭvědětelĭ). Originally contained the archaic root вѣд- (věd-, “to know”); after regular dissimilation ѣ-ѣ > и-ѣ reanalysed as containing the root вид- (vid-, “to see”), and equivalent to с- (s-) + ви́деть (vídetʹ) + -тель (-telʹ).
Pronunciation
Noun
свиде́тель • (svidételʹ) m anim (genitive свиде́теля, nominative plural свиде́тели, genitive plural свиде́телей, feminine свиде́тельница, relational adjective свиде́тельский)
- eyewitness, witness (one who has a personal knowledge of something)
1849, Фёдор Достоевский [Fyodor Dostoevsky], chapter I, in Неточка Незванова; English translation from Jane Kentish, transl., Netochka Nezvanova, Penguin Books, 1985:Он дока́зывал, что завеща́ние бы́ло вы́манено наси́льно, и обеща́лся предста́вить свиде́телей своему́ обвине́нию.- On dokázyval, što zaveščánije býlo výmaneno nasílʹno, i obeščálsja predstávitʹ svidételej svojemú obvinéniju.
- He maintained that the will had been made under duress and he promised to produce witnesses to testify to this.
Declension
- Close related
- Root related
Descendants
References
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “свидетель”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress