лѣто

Forms

лѣто (lěto) n, o-stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *lěto (“summer”), a word of all the Slavic languages.^[2][3][1] The same word is Russian лето (léto), Bulgarian лято (ljáto), Serbo-Croatian ljȅto, Slovene lẹ́to, Czech léto and Polish lato, everywhere meaning summer, in many also year, and in the plural years of age.^[2][3] ESJS takes summer, the warm season, as the first sense, from which came year, in the plural age, and finally time.^[2]

Its origin is unclear: ESJS finds none of the many explanations fully convincing, and Sadnik and Aitzetmüller call it uncertain.^[2][4] ESJS holds it certain only that it replaced an older Indo-European word for the warm season that Slavic lost.^[2] Wiktionary and Derksen reconstruct Proto-Balto-Slavic *laitan and Proto-Indo-European *leh₁tóm and compare Old Irish laithe (“day”), and Vasmer adds dialectal Swedish låding (“spring”), though some scholars take the Scandinavian words for borrowings from Middle English.^[1][3][5] Vaillant compared Lithuanian lėtas (“calm, gentle”), summer being the mild time when the cold lets go, which Sadnik and Aitzetmüller think no more likely;^[2][4] Machek compared Latin laetus (“joyful”), which others reject because of the Slavic acute.^[2][4] ESJS itself considers a link with words for half such as Old Irish leth (“half”), as a semantic calque of the older word for summer, and Miklosich connected it with лиꙗти “to pour” and lietus (“rain”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Gospel codices лѣто means year, for Ancient Greek ἐνιαυτός (eniautós, “year”): ꙇже бѣ архиереи лѣтоу томоу “who was high priest that year” (J 18, 13 Zogr As).^[6][7] The sense summer, for Ancient Greek θέρος (théros, “summer”), is in the Psalterium Sinaiticum: лѣто і веснѫ тꙑ созъда “you made summer and spring” (Ps 73, 17).^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Summer is a rare sense in the canonical texts; the usual one is year, for ἔτος, ἐνιαυτός and χρόνος, also in giving someone's age: бѣ бо лѣтома ꙇ҃б “for she was twelve years old” (Mc 5, 42 Zogr Mar).^[6][7] Ново лѣто is the New Year, the beginning of the church calendar on 1 September in the Codex Assemanianus.^[6] The word also means time or a period, for χρόνος and καιρός, as in кончина лѣтоу “the fullness of time” (G 4, 4).^[6][7]

Later Church Slavonic keeps the senses time and year, as in въ лѣто безлѣтнагѡ родила єси “you gave birth in time to the Timeless One” and in “the acceptable year of the Lord” (L 4, 19).^[8] Church Slavonic passed the word to Romanian leat (“year of an era, date”).^[2]

Timeline

• End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the Euchologium Sinaiticum uses лѣто for χρόνος and ἐνιαυτός.^[9]
• 14th century – a Serbian translation of Gregory of Nyssa uses it for χρόνος.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. summer; for θέρος.^[6][7][1]
2. A year; in the plural, years of age; for ἔτος, ἐνιαυτός.^[6][7][1]
3. time, a period of time; for χρόνος, καιρός.^[6][7]

Word family

• лѣтьнъ
• безлѣтьнъ
• мъноголѣтьнъ
• лѣторасль

Related words

• Russian лето (léto)

Usage notes

In Church Slavonic лѣто is above all time or year, not summer as in Russian лето.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU, p. 415
3. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 261
5. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 488
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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
8. ^ a b Sedakova, O. A. (2005), Slovar' trudnyx slov iz bogosluženija: cerkovnoslavjano-russkie paronimy, Moskva: Grēko-latinskij kabinet Ju. A. Šičalina
9. ^ a b SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de