весь

весь¹ all

Pronunciation

• [vʲesʲ]^[1]

Forms

весь (vesʹ) m (feminine вся, neuter всё, plural все)^[1]

Etymology

The pronoun “all” is inherited from Old East Slavic вьсь (vĭsĭ), from Proto-Slavic *vьśь (“all”).^[1][2][3] Vasmer and Anikin reconstruct its earlier form as *vьxъ, an old ⟨o⟩-stem.^[2][3] The third palatalization usually explains East and South Slavic ⟨*vьsь⟩ beside West Slavic ⟨*vьšь⟩;^[3] Old Novgorod kept ⟨х⟩, and Zaliznyak suggests the sibilant spread from the forms that had the second palatalization.^[3] The Slavic forms include Old Church Slavonic вьсь (vĭsĭ), Ukrainian увесь (uvesʹ), Serbo-Croatian sȁv and Slovene vès.^[2]

The nearest cognates are Baltic: Lithuanian vìsas (“all, whole”), Latvian viss and Old Prussian wissa-, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *wišas.^[2][3][1] The comparison with Sanskrit विश्व (viśva, “every, all”) and Avestan vīspa- is old, but Vasmer and Anikin find it difficult because of the Sanskrit sibilant.^[2][3][4] Anikin prefers *u̯iso-; many scholars follow Mikkola, who derived the Balto-Slavic word from a stem meaning “to breed”, as in veĩsti (“to breed”), comparing German all beside Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (alan, “to grow”).^[3][2] Anikin rejects a link with the homonymous noun meaning “village”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anikin dates вьсь in the senses “all” and “every” from the 11th century, and quotes the Novgorod birchbark letter No. 831 of the mid-12th century, „вьсьмь” “in everything”.^[3] Vasmer notes a single accusative вьху in the Khutyn charter of the 12th century, which Anikin dates to about 1192.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Novgorod birchbark letters of the 12th–14th centuries write forms with ⟨х⟩, such as вхоу “all (accusative feminine)” in the 1110s–1130s and вохи “all” in the 14th century.^[3] The old genitive всея lives on in titles, from государь всеа Русии in 1515 to the modern Патриарх всея Руси.^[3][5] Dictionaries record the 18th-century plural forms вси and вся.^[6]

Colloquial Russian uses весь as a predicate for “used up, run out” (хлеб весь), and the neuter всё for “that's it, it's over”.^[5]

Timeline

• 11th century – вьсь “all, every” in Old Russian.^[3]
• 1110s–1130s – вхоу “all” in Novgorod birchbark letter No. 736.^[3]
• mid-12th century – вьсьмь in birchbark letter No. 831.^[3]
• 1515 – государь всеа Русии “sovereign of all Rus'” in the grand prince's title.^[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. all, the whole: something taken entirely, without exception: всю ночь “all night”.^[5][1]
2. (neuter всё) Everything: всё готово “everything is ready”.^[5]
3. (plural все) Everybody, all of them: все пришли “everyone has come”.^[5][1]
4. (colloquial, as a predicate) Used up, finished: соль вся “the salt is all gone”.^[5]
5. (colloquial) Completely, all over: весь в снегу “covered in snow”;^[1] весь в мать “just like his mother”.^[1]

Word family

• все
• всё
• всего
• вовсе
• весьма
• всякий
• всегда
• всюду
• везде
• вовсю

весь² village

Pronunciation

• [vʲesʲ]^[1]

Forms

весь (vesʹ) f inan (genitive ве́си, nominative plural ве́си, genitive plural ве́сей)^[1]

Etymology

The archaic noun “village” is inherited from Old East Slavic вьсь (vĭsĭ, “village”), from Proto-Slavic *vьsь (“village”), an ⟨i⟩-stem.^[7][8][9] It is shared by Old Church Slavonic вьсь (vĭsĭ), Slovene vàs, Czech ves and Polish wieś.^[7]

The word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- (Anikin *u̯ik’-), a root noun for a community of several families; in Balto-Slavic and elsewhere it came to name a settlement.^[8][10] Its cognates are Latvian viesis (“stranger, guest”), Lithuanian viẽšpats (“lord”), Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”), Latin vīcus (“village”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “village”).^[7][10] Anikin notes that the phrase ⟨грады и веси⟩ came into Russian from Church Slavonic, and that the Smolensk diminutive вёска is in fact Belarusian.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Ostromir Gospel of 1056–1057 has „Прохождааше… градъı вьсѧ и вьси” “he went about all the towns and villages”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Russian the word meant a village, and also a quarter of a town named after a village absorbed into it, or the villages and settlements round a town.^[11] A 17th-century glossary distinguishes it from село: „весь деревня, а не село”.^[11] In modern Russian it is archaic, mainly in the bookish по городам и весям “everywhere”.^[5] Goncharov's благодатные веси shows its use as a poetic word.^[8]

Timeline

• 1056–1057 – вьси “villages” in the Ostromir Gospel.^[8]
• 11th–12th century – вьсь “a quarter of a town” in the Sinai Paterik.^[11]
• 1668 – веси “village”, of Kholuy in the Suzdal district.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A village, a rural settlement: по городам и весям “all over the country”.^[5][12][1]