Etymologically
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вѣкъ

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Forms

вѣкъ (věkŭ) m, o-stem[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *věkъ (“age, period of time”), which Wiktionary derives from Proto-Balto-Slavic *wáikas and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to overcome”).[1] The same word is Russian век (vek), Ukrainian вік (vik), Belarusian век (vjek), Bulgarian век (vek), Macedonian век (vek), Serbo-Croatian vȇk, Slovene vȇk, Czech věk, Slovak vek, Polish wiek, Upper Sorbian wěk and Lower Sorbian wěk.[2][1]

The usual comparison is with Baltic words for strength and life: Lithuanian viẽkas (“strength, life”), veĩkti (“to act, do”) and vỹkis (“life, liveliness”), and Latvian veikt (“to achieve, overpower”).[3][2][1] Sadnik and Vasmer add words for strength and fighting from other branches: Old Norse veig (“strength”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihan, “to fight”), Old High German wīgan (“to fight”), Old Irish fichim (“I fight”) and Latin vincō (“to conquer”).[3][2] The Slavic meaning "age, lifetime" would thus have grown out of "vital force".[3][1]

Miklosich had still set the word beside Latin aevum and Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍃 (aiws), and called it obscure.[4] According to the traditional etymology that Derksen reports, the same word, in a sense close to Lithuanian vaĩkas (“child”), is the second part of Proto-Slavic *čelověkъ (“man, human being”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the oldest Gospel manuscripts, the Codex Zographensis, the Codex Marianus, the Codex Assemanianus and the Savvina kniga, вѣкъ translates Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age, eternity”), as in не отъпоуститъ сѧ емоу • ни вь сь вѣкъ • ни въ грѧдѫштиі “it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the one to come” (Mt 12, 32).[6] The Greek–OCS index of the SJS counts it for αἰών 31 times in the Zographensis and 32 times in the Marianus.[7]

Semantic evolution

The SNSP counts more than 600 instances in the oldest manuscripts, nearly all for αἰών and a few for Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos).[6] Besides a long or endless span of time, the word names the present world, above all in the phrase вѣкъ сь “this age, this world”, opposed to the age to come.[7][6] Fixed phrases render Greek adjectives and formulas: прѣдъ вѣкꙑ for προαιώνιος “before the ages”, бѫдѫщааго вѣка for αἰώνιος, and въ вѣкꙑ вѣкомъ “for ever and ever” at the end of prayers (Euch 56b).[6][7] Later texts in the SJS also use it for a thousand-year period and for a person's age.[7] Miklosich records a sense “strength, vigour” in later Russian and Slovene sources.[4]

Later Church Slavonic kept the word for αἰών and Latin saeculum, and Giltebrandt glosses it also as a lifetime or a person's years.[8] Sedakova explains вѣкъ сей as this fallen world, which lives in time, against the future age.[9]

Timeline

  • End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – вѣкъ renders αἰών and κόσμος in the Euchologium Sinaiticum.[10]
  • 14th century – the Serbian Athonite translation of Gregory of Nyssa uses it for αἰών.[10]
  • 1882–1885 – Giltebrandt lists the New Testament uses of the word in Church Slavonic.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An age, a long span of time, eternity; for αἰών, χρόνος.[7][6][1]
  2. (in вѣкъ сь) This age, this world; for αἰών, κόσμος.[7][6]
  3. A millennium.[7]
  4. A person's age, lifetime.[7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 286
  3. ^ a b c Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 329
  4. ^ a b Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
  5. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 80
  6. ^ a b c d e f Slovník nejstarších staroslověnských památek (digital ed., Gorazd, Slovanský ústav AV ČR, gorazd.org); cf. Cejtlin, R. M.; Večerka, R.; Blagova, É. (eds.) (1994), Staroslavjanskij slovar' (po rukopisjam X–XI vekov), Moskva: Russkij jazyk
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
  8. ^ a b Gil'tebrandt, P. A. (1882–1885), Spravočnyj i ob''jasnitel'nyj slovar' k Novomu Zavetu, 6 vols., Sankt-Peterburg
  9. ^ Sedakova, O. A. (2005), Slovar' trudnyx slov iz bogosluženija: cerkovnoslavjano-russkie paronimy, Moskva: Grēko-latinskij kabinet Ju. A. Šičalina
  10. ^ a b SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de