Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/cěsta

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 (skhistós, “cloven, dissected”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keyd- (“to split, to cleave”).

Noun

*cě̀sta f[1][2][3]

road
Synonyms: *dorga, *pǫtь, *stьdza

Declension

Declension of *cě̀sta (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*cě̀sta	*cě̀stě	*cě̀sty
Accusative	*cě̀stǫ	*cě̀stě	*cě̀sty
Genitive	*cě̀sty	*cě̀stu	*cě̀stъ
Locative	*cě̀stě	*cě̀stu	cě̀stasъ, cě̀staxъ^*
Dative	*cě̀stě	*cě̀stama	*cě̀stamъ
Instrumental	cě̀stojǫ, cě̀stǭ^**	*cě̀stama	*cě̀stamī
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

*čistъ (“clean”)
*cěditi (“to filter”)
*ščitъ (“shield”) (possibly)

Derived terms

*cěstiti (“to cleanse, to castrate”)

Descendants

South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic: цѣста (cěsta)
  
  Glagolitic: ⱌⱑⱄⱅⰰ (cěsta)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: цѐста
  
  Latin: cèsta
  - Chakavian (Vrgada): cȅsta
  - Chakavian (Orbanići): cȅsta
  - Chakavian (Iž): cȅsta
  - Kajkavian (Varaždin): c'ẹsta
- Slovene: cẹ́sta (tonal orthography)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: cěsta, ciesta
  - Czech: cesta
- Slovak: cesta

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 slovar³ (in Slovene), https://fran.si: “*cě̋sta”

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] 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’”

[2] Olander, Thomas (2001), “cěsta”, in Common Slavic accentological word list, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 177)”

[3] Snoj, Marko (2016), “cẹ́sta”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar³ (in Slovene), https://fran.si: “*cě̋sta”