ѥгда

Forms

ѥгда (jegda), also written егда (egda)^[1][2] Variant spellings егъда, егода (Psalterium Sinaiticum) and едга.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *jegъda (“when, if”).^[1] The same word is Old East Slavic егда (jegda) and the archaic and ecclesiastical Russian егда (jegda), and it existed in Old Czech and Old Polish.^[1][4]

It is formed like Russian когда (kogda) and тогда (togda).^[4] The first part is the pronoun и, which Sadnik and Aitzetmüller explain as a fusion of the Indo-European pronoun of Latin is (“he”) and Gothic 𐌹𐍃 (is) with the relative pronoun of Ancient Greek ὅς (hós, “who”);^[5][4] ѥгда is one of the Slavic forms that keep the old relative.^[5][4] The second part is the difficulty: Schmidt, Meillet and Berneker explain it as the genitive singular of Proto-Slavic *godъ (“time”), while Vasmer thinks an early shortening of Proto-Slavic *kъda possible too, in which case the word matches Avestan yadā (“when, as soon as, if”).^[4] Wiktionary compares Lithuanian jeigu (“if”) and yadā.^[1] Vasmer thinks less likely a blend of *jeda (“if”) with an element seen in the Middle Bulgarian variant ѥга.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Gospel manuscripts the word renders Ancient Greek ὅταν (hótan, “whenever”) and Ancient Greek ὅτε (hóte, “when”), as in придѫтъ же дьние, егда отъимѣтъ сѧ отъ нихъ женихъ “but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them” (Mc 2, 20, Codex Zographensis and Marianus).^[2] The SNSP counts more than 500 occurrences in the oldest manuscripts.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a relative adverb it means “when” after words of time (“the hour cometh, when…”, J 4, 21), and rarely, as an indefinite adverb, “at some time, once”, for Ancient Greek ποτέ (poté).^[2] As a conjunction it introduces clauses of time: “when, whenever, while” for actions at the same time, “as long as”, “when, after” for a preceding action, and with тъкъмо “as soon as”.^[2] It renders a wide range of Greek constructions, besides ὅταν and ὅτε also ὁπότε, ἐπειδή, ὡς, ἡνίκα and the articular infinitive with ἐν τῷ.^[2][3] In the correlative ѥгда… тогда it means “when… then”.^[2]

In later Church Slavonic егда remained the usual word for “when”, as in “when I was in the days of my youth” (Job 29, 4).^[6]

Timeline

• End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the Euchologium Sinaiticum uses ѥгда for ὅταν.^[7]
• 1882–1885 – Giltebrandt records every New Testament use of the word in Church Slavonic.^[8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (relative) when; for ὅταν, ὅτε.^[2][1]
2. (indefinite) At some time, once, ever; for ποτέ.^[2]

Conjunction

1. When, whenever, while; for ὅταν, ὅτε, ὁπότε, ἡνίκα.^[2][3]
2. As long as; for ὅταν, ὅτε.^[2]
3. When, after, of a preceding action; for ὅτε, ἐπειδή, ὡς.^[2][3]
4. As soon as; for ὡς.^[2]

Word family

• ѥгдаже

Related words

• когда
• тогда
• иногда
• Russian егда (jegda)

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 j k l m Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 7
5. ^ a b Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 247
6. ^ D'jačenko, Grigorij (1899), Polnyj cerkovno-slavjanskij slovar', Moskva
7. ^ SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de
8. ^ Gil'tebrandt, P. A. (1882–1885), Spravočnyj i ob''jasnitel'nyj slovar' k Novomu Zavetu, 6 vols., Sankt-Peterburg