Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/město

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

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *moyth₂- (“to change place”) + *-to, substantivized from an earlier adjective. Cognate with Pashto مېشت (mēšt, “settled”) (< *máištah). Likely not a direct cognate, but still possibly related to Lithuanian maĩstas (“nourishment, food”).

The secondary sense “city, urban center” is a calque of Old High German stat < Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“stead, place”).

Noun

*mě̀sto n

1. (primary) place, location
2. (secondary, in Northern Slavic) city, town, settlement

Declension

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mě̀sto	*mě̀stě	*mě̀sta
genitive	*mě̀sta	*mě̀stu	*mě̀stъ
dative	*mě̀stu	*mě̀stoma	*mě̀stomъ
accusative	*mě̀sto	*mě̀stě	*mě̀sta
instrumental	*mě̀stъmь, *mě̀stomь*	*mě̀stoma	*mě̀stȳ
locative	*mě̀stě	*mě̀stu	*mě̀stě̄xъ
vocative	*mě̀sto	*mě̀stě	*mě̀sta

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

• *městiti (“to move, to change location”)
  • *poměščenьje (“room, space”)
• *městьce, *městъko (diminutive)
• *městina (“space”)
• *městьnъ (“local”)
  • *městьnikъ (“local”)
  • *městьnostь (“vicinity”)
• *městovъ (“locative”)
• *vъměsto, *naměsto (“instead”); *vъměstě (“along with”) (adverbs)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: мѣсто (město, “place, location”)
    • Middle Russian: мѣ́сто (mě́sto)
      • Russian: ме́сто (mésto, “place”)
        • → Finnish: mesta
    • Old Ruthenian: мѣ́сто (mě́sto, “city; place, location”)
      • Belarusian: ме́ста (mjésta, “city”) (semantic loan from Polish)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: мі́сто (místo, “city”) (regional, semantic loan from Polish)
      • Ukrainian: мі́сто (místo, “city”) (semantic loan from Polish)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: мѣсто (město)
  • Bulgarian: мя́сто (mjásto)
  • Macedonian: ме́сто (mésto)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: мје̏сто, ме̏сто

    Latin script: mjȅsto, mȅsto

  • Slovene: mẹ́sto (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: město, miesto
    • Czech: město
    • Czech: místo
  • Old Polish: miasto (“city”)
    • Masurian: niasto
    • Polish: miasto
    • Silesian: miasto
  • Slovak: mesto (“city”), miesto (“place, location”)
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: miasto (“city”)
    • Slovincian: mjastô (“city”)
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: město (“city”)
    • Upper Sorbian: město (“city”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ме́сто”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*město”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 203
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., Duridanov, I. V., editors (1995), “място”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 4 (мѝнго² – па̀дам), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 446
• “miestas”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012