Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/věstь

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

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *waiˀstis, from Proto-Indo-European *wéyd-ti-s. Morphologically from *věděti +‎ *-tь. Cognate with Latvian vēsts.

Noun

*vě̑stь f

1. message

Declension

Declension of *vě̑stь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*vě̑stь	*vě̑sti	*vě̑sti
genitive	*věstí	*věstьjù, *věsťu*	*věstь̀jь
dative	*vě̑sti	*věstьmà	*vě̑stьmъ
accusative	*vě̑stь	*vě̑sti	*vě̑sti
instrumental	*věstьjǫ́	*věstьmà	*věstьmì
locative	*věstí	*věstьjù, *věsťu*	*vě̑stьxъ
vocative	*věsti	*vě̑sti	*vě̑sti

^* 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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: вѣсть (věstĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: вѣсть (věstʹ)
      • Belarusian: весць (vjescʹ)
      • Ukrainian: вість (vistʹ)
    • Russian: весть (vestʹ) (see there for further descendants)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: вѣсть (věstĭ)

    Glagolitic script: ⰲⱑⱄⱅⱐ (věstĭ)

  • Bulgarian: вест (vest)
  • Macedonian: вест (vest)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ве̑ст

    Latin script: vȇst

  • Slovene: vẹ̑st (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: věst (obsolete), zvěst
  • Kashubian: wiesc
  • Polish: wieść
  • Slovak: zvesť
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: wěsć

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: veste (through Old Church Slavonic)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “весть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “весть”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volumes 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 146
• Anikin, A. E. (2013) “весть I”, in Русский этимологический словарь [Russian Etymological Dictionary] (in Russian), numbers 7 (вершь – вняться), Moscow: Russian Language Institute, →ISBN, page 32