вода

Forms

вода́ or во́да (vodá or vóda) f (relational adjective во́ден, diminutive води́ца or води́чка)^[1] Western and south-western dialects stress the first syllable, во̀да; the north-east has удъ̀.^[2] The Kostur (Kastoria) dialect has во́да.^[3] The diminutives are водица and водичка.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Church Slavonic вода (voda) (Old Bulgarian), from Proto-Slavic *voda (“water”).^[2][1][5] The word is shared by the Slavic languages: Serbo-Croatian вода (voda), Slovene vóda, Russian вода (voda), Czech voda, Slovak voda and Polish woda.^[2]

The Slavic noun continues an Indo-European word for water with an r/n stem, *wódr̥, from the root *wed- (“wet, water”);^[1] the BER gives the root as *wod- : *wed- : *ud- and the stem as *wodō(r), which Slavic turned into a feminine noun in -a.^[2] Its cognates include Lithuanian vanduõ, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍄𐍉 (watō), Old High German wazzar, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr), Albanian ujë, Armenian գետ (get, “river”), Latin unda (“wave”) and Sanskrit उदक (udakám), Lithuanian and Latin added a nasal later.^[2][6] Mladenov adds Irish uisce, the source of English whisky.^[6]

The dialect derivative водник “sink” is the source of the Aromanian word vúdnic (“washbasin”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the oldest Old Bulgarian manuscripts: the BER lists the Zographensis, Marianus, Assemanianus and Suprasliensis codices.^[2] In the Codex Marianus, Pilate „приемъ водѫ ѹмꙑ рѫцѣ” “took water and washed his hands” (Matthew 27:24).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Old Bulgarian texts already use the word for rivers, streams and floods and for the sea as well as for the liquid: in the Marianus Peter „хождааше на водахъ” “walked on the waters” (Matthew 14:29).^[8] In the 17th-century Tikhonravov damaskin, one of the first books in the spoken language, it occurs 125 times, for water to drink or wash with, for an expanse of water and for a spring or well.^[9]

The folk songs that Duvernois quotes use it for a river or lake, in the formula гора и вода “forest and water”, and for water used to divine a future bride.^[4] Gerov also records it in place of “river, lake, sea”.^[10] The modern dictionaries keep this as a dialect sense “river, stream”, as in the folk line през девет води студени “across nine cold waters”, and add the territorial waters of a state and the fluid that collects in the body in illness; the figurative “padding, verbiage” of a wordy text is marked as dated.^[11][1]

Timeline

• first half of the 11th century – вода and водѫ in the Pandects of Antiochus, as the corpus dates the text.^[8]
• 1263 – the word over a hundred times in the Hexaemeron, in the manuscript the corpus dates to 1263.^[8]
• 17th century – вода 125 times in the Tikhonravov damaskin.^[9]
• 1871 – вода in Bogorov's Bulgarian–French dictionary.^[12]
• 1885–1889 – Duvernois's dictionary quotes the word from folk songs and proverbs.^[4]
• 1895 – Gerov defines it as that of which rivers, lakes, seas and springs are made.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. water: the clear colourless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen.^[11][13][1]
2. The water of the earth as a whole, the seas, rivers and lakes, as against the land.^[11][1]
3. (dialectal) A river or stream.^[11]
4. (in the plural) The waters of a territory: териториални води “territorial waters”.^[11][1]
5. A solution or infusion used as a drink, a medicine or a lotion.^[11][1]
6. (colloquial) Fluid that collects in an organ or cavity of the body in illness.^[11][1]
7. (figurative, dated) Padding, empty words in a text or speech.^[11][1]

Word family

• воден
• водица
• водичка
• воденица
• воденичар
• воднист
• безводие
• наводня
• наводнявам
• водопад

Related words

• Old Church Slavonic вода (voda)

Usage notes

Set phrases include като риба във вода “like a fish in water”, буря в чаша вода “a storm in a teacup”, чукам вода в хаван “to pound water in a mortar”, that is, to labour in vain, and the slang гола вода “worthless; helpless”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 168
3. ^ Šklifov, B. (1977), Rečnik na kosturskija govor [Речник на костурския говор], Bălgarska dialektologija 8, Sofija: BAN, p. 218
4. ^ a b c Djuvernua [Duvernois], A. (1885–1889), Slovar' bolgarskago jazyka po pamjatnikam narodnoj slovesnosti i proizvedenijam novějšej pečati [Словарь болгарскаго языка по памятникамъ народной словесности и произведеніямъ новѣйшей печати], 2 vols., Moskva, p. 258
5. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 523
6. ^ a b Mladenov, Stefan (1941), Etimologičeski i pravopisen rečnik na bălgarskija knižoven ezik [Етимологически и правописен речник на българския книжовен език], Sofija: Hristo G. Danov, p. 73
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1124
8. ^ a b c d Histdict: Cyrillomethodiana historical dictionaries of Bulgarian (Old Bulgarian dictionary, Middle Bulgarian historical dictionary, the Euthymius, Syncellus, Borilov Synodikon and Orations against the Arians indexes) and text corpus, Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“, https://histdict.uni-sofia.bg, p. s.v. вода
9. ^ a b Dyomina, E. I. (ed.) (2012), Rečnik na knižovnija bălgarski ezik na narodna osnova ot XVII vek (vărhu tekst na Tihonravovija damaskin) [Речник на книжовния български език на народна основа от XVII век (върху текст на Тихонравовия дамаскин)], Sofija: Institut za bălgarski ezik – BAN / Institut slavjanovedenija RAN / Valentin Trajanov, p. 91
10. ^ a b Gerov, Najden (1895–1904), Rěčnik na blăgarskyj jazyk [Рѣчникъ на блъгарскый языкъ], 5 vols., Plovdiv, p. 1, s.v. вода
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rečnik na bălgarskija ezik [Речник на българския език] (1977–), vols. 1–, Sofija: BAN, Institut za bălgarski ezik „Prof. Ljubomir Andrejčin“ (online edition https://ibl.bas.bg/rbe), p. s.v. вода
12. ^ Bogorov, Ivan (1869–1871), Bălgarsko-frenski rečnik / Dictionnaire bulgare-français, Viena, p. 35
13. ^ Infolex: Rečnik [Речник], Institut za bălgarski ezik „Prof. Ljubomir Andrejčin“, BAN, https://ibl.bas.bg/infolex, p. s.v. вода