свѣтъ

Forms

свѣтъ (světŭ) m, o-stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *světъ (“light; world”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *śwaitas, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- (“to shine”).^[1][2] The same word is Russian свет (svet), Ukrainian світ (svit), Bulgarian свят (svjat), Serbo-Croatian svijet, Slovene svẹ̑t, Czech svět, Slovak svet and Polish świat, which Derksen glosses “world” in Czech, Polish and the South Slavic languages.^[1][2][3]

Its ablaut relatives in Slavic are свьтѣти “to shine” and свитати “to dawn”.^[3] Outside Slavic it is related to Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to shine”), Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”) and Gothic 𐍈𐌴𐌹𐍄𐍃 (hweits, “white”), the cognate of English white.^[1][2][4][3] Vaillant and others connected it with цвѣтъ “flower” through an alternation of the initial consonant;^[3][4][1] Vasmer doubts it, and Wiktionary treats the two as doublets.^[3][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Gospels it translates Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs) and φέγγος (phéngos): м‹ѣ›с‹ѧ›ць не дастъ свѣта своего “the moon shall not give her light” (Mt 24, 29), in the Zographensis, the Marianus, the Assemanianus and the Savvina kniga.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The SJS divides the word in two.^[5] The first sense is light, glow, and also daylight and dawn: свѣтоу же бꙑвъшоу “when it was day” (Supr 15, 9).^[5] The second, “world”, occurs mainly in phrases: сь свѣтъ “this world, this life”, for Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn) or κόσμος (kósmos), as in печал҄ь свѣта сего “the care of this world” (Mt 13, 22 Zogr Mar), сего свѣта “worldly”, and онъ свѣтъ “the other world, eternity”.^[5][6] SNSP treats the second as a separate word with only five occurrences, against more than two hundred for “light”.^[6] The Freising Fragments have na oń zuet, “to the other world”, and the SJS notes Old High German weralt beside this sense.^[5]

Giltebrandt notes the figurative uses of the New Testament: the light of faith and of the Gospel, the Son of God, and the preacher.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. light, shine, brightness; for φῶς, φέγγος, φωτισμός.^[5][6][1]
2. daylight, dawn.^[5]
3. (in сь свѣтъ, онъ свѣтъ) The world, this life or the life to come; for αἰών, κόσμος.^[5][6][1]

Word family

• бесвѣтьнъ
• несвѣтьлъ
• освѣтити
• освѣщати
• освѣщение
• просвѣтити
• просвѣщати
• просвѣщение
• просвѣщьникъ
• свѣтило
• свѣтильникъ
• свѣтитель
• свѣтити
• свѣтовьнъ

Related words

• свьтѣти
• цвѣтъ
• свитати
• Russian свет (svet)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 575–576
4. ^ a b c Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 314
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Gil'tebrandt, P. A. (1882–1885), Spravočnyj i ob''jasnitel'nyj slovar' k Novomu Zavetu, 6 vols., Sankt-Peterburg