плакати

плакати¹ to weep

Forms

плакати (plakati) impf^[1]

Etymology

The verb for weeping is inherited from Proto-Slavic *plakati (“to cry, to weep”), a verb of all the Slavic languages.^[2][3][1] The same word is Russian плакать (plakatʹ), Bulgarian плача (pláča), Serbo-Croatian plȁkati, Slovene plákati, Czech plakat and Polish płakać.^[2][3][4]

It goes back to Proto-Balto-Slavic *plā́ˀktei and the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to beat, to strike”), with a variant *pleh₂g-.^[1][3][2] The first is in Lithuanian plakti (“to beat, to whip”) and Ancient Greek πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”), the second in Latin plangō (“to beat one's breast, to lament”), πλήγνυμι (plḗgnumi, “to strike”) and Old English flōcan (“to applaud”).^[2][3][4] The sense of weeping grew out of beating one's breast in mourning, as in the Latin verb.^[5][3][4]

ESJS suggests that the root is an extension of *pelh₂- (“broad, flat”), first meaning to flatten with repeated blows of the palm, and also mentions the view that it is onomatopoeic.^[2] It rejects on phonetic grounds the link with the verb for washing (homograph 2), and, with Kiparsky and Vasmer, Hirt's derivation from Gothic.^[2][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Codex Zographensis has блажени плачѫштеи ѣко ти оутѣшѧтъ сѧ “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” for Ancient Greek πενθέω (penthéō) (Mt 5, 4), where the Assemanianus and the Savvina kniga have the reflexive плачѫштеі сѧ.^[7] The Gospels also use it for Ancient Greek κλαίω (klaíō), as in ишьдъ вънъ плака сѧ горько “he went out and wept bitterly” (Mt 26, 75).^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The canonical texts use the verb with or without сѧ, alone for weeping or lamenting and with an object for mourning someone or weeping over something, as in видѣвъ градъ плака сѧ о н҄емь “seeing the city, he wept over it” (L 19, 41).^[7][8] In the texts ESJS cites as Nom and Sud, плакати сѧ names the first grade of penance, when the penitent stood weeping at the church door and prayed for forgiveness.^[2] The other Slavic languages add senses such as complaining, and of plants or glass, dripping or sweating.^[2]

Giltebrandt lists it in the Church Slavonic New Testament for πενθεῖν, θρηνεῖν and κλαίειν.^[9] Dyachenko, noting that the older language used the active verb for washing, took the reflexive плакатисѧ as washing oneself with tears.^[10]

Timeline

• End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the Euchologium Sinaiticum uses плакати for πενθεῖν and ὀδυνᾶσθαι.^[11]
• 1882–1885 – Giltebrandt lists its New Testament uses in Church Slavonic.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weep, to cry, to lament; for κλαίειν, πενθεῖν, θρηνεῖν.^[7][8][1]
2. With an object, to mourn for someone, to weep over something; for κλαίειν, κόπτεσθαι.^[7][8][1]

Word family

• оплакати
• плачь
• въплакати
• въсплакати
• проплакати

плакати² to wash

Forms

плакати (plakati) impf^[7]

Etymology

The verb for washing is inherited from Proto-Slavic *polkati (“to rinse, to wash”), with the perfective *polknǫti, as its reflexes in the other Slavic languages show.^[12][1] The same word is Bulgarian плакна (plákna, “to rinse”), Slovene plákati, Slovak plákať, Polish płukać (“to rinse”) and Ukrainian полокати (polokaty), with senses of rinsing and washing, and in places of laundering or of the sea washing a shore.^[12][1] Russian полоскать (poloskatʹ, “to rinse”) and its Belarusian and Ukrainian counterparts probably belong here too, although mixing with плескати, to splash, cannot be excluded.^[12]

Its origin is not fully clear, and it has no sure cognates outside Slavic.^[12] ESJS finds most likely Snoj's view that it is an intensive formed with a velar suffix from a hypothetical *polti meaning to splash or slosh, and Wiktionary too relates it to that verb.^[12][1] Sadnik–Aitzetmüller and others put it with the verb for weeping (homograph 1), which fits the meaning but not the sounds.^[12][5] Vasmer held it to be onomatopoeic, and ESJS finds a link with Proto-Indo-European *pleu- (“to float”) improbable.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is found only in the Gospel of Luke, in the Codex Zographensis, the Codex Marianus and the Codex Assemanianus, for Ancient Greek πλύνω (plúnō, “to wash”): рꙑбари же ошьдъше отъ н҄ею плакаахѫ мрѣжѧ “the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets” (L 5, 2).^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Dyachenko points out that the Ostromir, Galich and Mariinsky Gospels have плакаху мрежи in this verse, where the later Church Slavonic text has измываху.^[10] ESJS adds that later Church Slavonic also had related verbs for rinsing and washing out.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wash, to rinse; for πλύνειν.^[7][8][1]