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срьдьце

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Forms

срьдьце (srĭdĭce) n, o-stem, Glagolitic ⱄⱃⱐⰴⱐⱌⰵ[1] Often written сръдьце, as often in the Codex Zographensis and the Psalterium Sinaiticum, and abbreviated ср҃дьце, ср҃це.[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *sьrdьce (“heart”), found in all the Slavic languages except Polabian, which uses a derivative of its word for life instead.[3][4][1] The same word is Russian сердце (serdce), Bulgarian сърце (sărce), Serbo-Croatian srce, Slovene srce, Czech srdce and Polish serce, everywhere also with the transferred senses of core, middle and inner feeling.[3][4][5]

The Proto-Slavic noun extends an older Proto-Slavic *sьrdь, probably an i-stem, which survives without the suffix in OCS compounds such as милосрьдъ (“merciful”) and тѧжькосръдъ (“hard-hearted”).[3][5][1] Some take the suffix *-ьce for an old diminutive, as in *sъlnьce (“sun”); others for a formant that moved nouns of unproductive classes into productive ones.[3][5][1] The word stands in ablaut to *serda (“middle”), the source of срѣда.[3][5]

Its nearest relatives are East Baltic: Lithuanian širdìs (“heart”) and Latvian sir̂ds, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *śird-.[3][4] Further cognates are Old Prussian seyr, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō), Old Irish cride, Latin cor, Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía) and κῆρ (kêr).[3][4][6][5] They continue an Indo-European root noun with ablaut, nominative Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr, oblique *ḱr̥d-, which Hittite reflects best; the other languages moved it into productive classes, Baltic and Armenian into the i-stems, Greek and Celtic into the io-stems, Germanic into the n-stems.[3][1] The Indo-Iranian words for the heart, such as Avestan zərəd-, point to a different initial consonant, and there is no agreement on how to explain them; a link with a verb meaning to jump, the heart as the throbbing organ, has also been proposed.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Gospels of the Codex Zographensis and the Codex Marianus use it for Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía), mostly for the inner life: оустънами чьтѫтъ мѧ • а сръдьце ихъ далече отъстоитъ отъ мене “they honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mt 15, 8).[7][2] SNSP counts more than 400 instances in the oldest manuscripts.[2]

Semantic evolution

The SJS gives the organ itself (мажи ми срьдьце “anoint my heart”, Supr 516, 19), then, very often, the heart as the centre of bodily and spiritual life, where it also renders Ancient Greek διάνοια (diánoia), Ancient Greek γνώμη (gnṓmē), Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ) and Ancient Greek σπλάγχνον (splánkhnon), and finally the inner part or centre of a thing: въ срьдьци землѧ “in the heart of the earth” (Mt 12, 40), the heart of the seas (Ps 45, 3) and of an oak (Supr 399, 26).[7][2] A prayer of the Euchologium Sinaiticum has it where the Old High German parallel reads min herza, and the Freising Fragments write it zridze.[7]

Compounds on the shorter stem are calques of Greek: срьдьцевѣдьць “knower of hearts” for καρδιογνώστης and жестосръдъ for σκληροκάρδιος, while милосрьдъ has been explained from Latin misericors, a view some doubt.[3] From Church Slavonic Romanian took milosârd “merciful” and Russian милосердие “mercy”.[3]

Timeline

  • End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the word appears in the Slavonic translation of an ecclesiastical history made in the western regions of the First Bulgarian Empire.[8]
  • Up to the early 15th century – a Serbian text from the Rila Monastery uses it for καρδία.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The heart, the organ; for καρδία, σπλάγχνον.[7][2][1]
  2. (figurative) The heart as the seat of feeling, thought and will; mind; for καρδία, διάνοια, γνώμη, ψυχή.[7][2][1]
  3. The inner part, centre or core of something; for καρδία.[7][2]

Word family

  • срьдьцевѣдьць
  • срѣда
  • милосрьдъ
  • оусрьдиѥ
  • жестосръдъ
  • тѧжькосръдъ
  • Russian сердце (serdce)
  • Lithuanian širdìs

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU
  4. ^ a b c d Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ 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, 605–606
  6. ^ Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 307
  7. ^ a b c d e f 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 SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de