воля

Forms

во́ля (vólja) f inan (genitive во́ли, nominative plural во́ли, genitive plural воль)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic волꙗ (volja), from Proto-Slavic *voľa (“will, freedom, wish”).^[1][2] The word is shared by the Slavic languages: Old Church Slavonic волꙗ (volja) renders Ancient Greek θέλημα (thélēma) and γνώμη (gnṓmē), and there are Ukrainian воля (volja), Bulgarian воля (volja), Czech vůle and Polish wola.^[3][4]

Proto-Slavic made the noun with the suffix ⟨-ja⟩ from the root of велеть, in its o-grade.^[3][4][2] ESRJa derives it from a noun Proto-Slavic *volъ that survives in Old East Slavic довълъ (dovŭlŭ, “plenty, property”) and in произвол, and takes the verb волити (voliti, “to want, prefer”) to be made from the noun rather than the reverse.^[4] The closest relatives are Lithuanian valià (“will”) and Latvian vaļa (“freedom, power”), though Anikin does not rule out Slavic influence on the Baltic words.^[2] Further off are Old Norse val (“choice”), Old High German wala (“choice”), German Wahl (“choice”) and wollen (“to want”), Avestan vāra- (“will, choice”) and Breton gwell (“better”), all from the root Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to wish, choose”).^[3][2] ESRJa adds Latin volō (“I want”).^[4] Wiktionary gives the root as *welh₁-.^[1]

довлеть has the same root in the zero grade.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anikin cites the word from 1057, and Miklosich lists волꙗ for Greek θέλημα in the Ostromir Gospel.^[2][5] The Izbornik of 1076 says of a martyr that he gave „тѣло свое на наготу, волю на попьрание” “his body to nakedness, his will to be trampled on”.^[6] Sreznevsky glosses the Old Russian word as “will, consent, possibility, freedom”, and Chernykh dates it from the 11th century in the senses “freedom” and “will”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 11th–17th centuries the main sense was “wish, desire”; phrases such as изъ воли, по волѣ and волею meant “of one's own accord”, as when Mstislav left Kiev волею in 1168 in the Novgorod First Chronicle, and на обѣ воли meant “by mutual consent”.^[9] The Lay of Igor's Campaign uses it for life by one's own custom, without force: „уже тресну нужда на волю” “now constraint has crashed down on freedom”.^[6] The 18th century treated the will as one of the three powers of the soul, beside memory and reason, in Dimitry of Rostov.^[10] Freedom from bondage and serfdom (дать волю, отпустить на волю) is another of the senses Anikin lists.^[2]

Regional speech has воля for a pasture (Tver, Kemerovo, Tomsk), seasonal work away from home (Vladimir, Moscow), the open space outside the house (Arkhangelsk, Pskov), and a girl's headband in Olonets, taken off at her wedding (снять волю).^[2][11] In chastushkas of the Middle Urals it means “sweetheart”.^[11] Anikin notes how often воля is paired with мир in popular phrases such as мир да воля.^[2] The adjective волевой is late: Ushakov's dictionary (1935) is the first to record it.^[8] Erzya оля, Ingrian voli and Moksha воля were borrowed from Russian.^[1]

Timeline

• 1056–1057 – волꙗ for Greek θέλημα “will” in the Ostromir Gospel.^[5][2]
• 1076 – „волю на попьрание” “his will to be trampled on” in the Izbornik of 1076.^[6]
• 12th–13th century – „тако воля есть княжа” “such is the prince's will” in the Uspensky Sbornik.^[9]
• 1579 – Воля as a personal name of a peasant in the Suzdal district.^[12]
• 1763 – воля, a call in the card game ombre, in Maykov's poem Игрок ломбера.^[13]
• 1935 – the derivative волевой first recorded in a dictionary (Ushakov's).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. will, willpower: the capacity to pursue one's aims and control one's actions, as in сила воли.^[14][15]
2. A conscious striving towards something, as in воля к победе “the will to win”.^[14][16]
3. A wish or demand, as in последняя воля, a dying wish.^[14][15]
4. Power to decide or dispose: something within one's power is в чьей-то воле.^[14][17]
5. (instrumental волею with the genitive) by force of, as in волею случая “by chance”.^[14]
6. freedom, liberty; the state of being at large, outside prison.^[17][1]
7. (regional) A pasture; the open space outside the house.^[2]

Word family

• волевой
• вольный
• вольность
• вольница
• вволю
• неволя
• своеволие
• добровольный
• безвольный
• волей-неволей

Related words

• довольный
• изволить
• произвол
• велеть
• довлеть
• уволить
• Old East Slavic волꙗ (volja)

Usage notes

Two minor homographs: воля in ombre, the call for all the tricks, is from French vole, from Latin vola “palm of the hand”;^[13][18] and a Smolensk dialect воля “goitre”, whose link with волдырь Vasmer calls guesswork.^[19] The saying вольному воля means “let the free do as they please”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Anikin, A. E. (2007–2021), Russkij ètimologičeskij slovar' [Русский этимологический словарь], vols. 1–13 (A–D), Moskva: Rukopisnye pamjatniki Drevnej Rusi / Institut russkogo jazyka RAN, p. 8, 206
3. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 347–348
4. ^ a b c d Shansky, N. M.; Zhuravlev, A. F. (eds.) (1963–2007), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], vols. 1–10 (A–M), Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta, p. 3, s.v. воля
5. ^ a b Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
6. ^ a b c Vinogradova, V. L. (1965–1984), Slovar'-spravočnik «Slova o polku Igoreve» [Словарь-справочник «Слова о полку Игореве»], 6 vols., Moskva / Leningrad: Nauka, p. s.v. воля
7. ^ Sreznevsky, I. I. (1893–1912), Materialy dlja slovarja drevne-russkago jazyka po pis'mennym pamjatnikam [Материалы для словаря древнерусского языка по письменным памятникам], 3 vols., Sankt-Peterburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija nauk, p. 1, s.v. воля
8. ^ a b c Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 1, s.v. воля
9. ^ a b Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 3, 18
10. ^ Sorokin, Yu. S. et al. (eds.) (1984–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XVIII veka [Словарь русского языка XVIII века], vols. 1–24, Leningrad / Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, p. s.v. воля
11. ^ a b Filin, F. P.; Sorokoletov, F. P.; Myznikov, S. A. (eds.) (1965–), Slovar' russkix narodnyx govorov [Словарь русских народных говоров], vols. 1–51, Moskva / Leningrad / Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, p. 5, 88
12. ^ Tupikov, N. M. (1903), Slovar' drevne-russkix ličnyx sobstvennyx imen [Словарь древне-русских личных собственных имен], Sankt-Peterburg, p. 93
13. ^ a b Anikin, A. E. (2007–2021), Russkij ètimologičeskij slovar' [Русский этимологический словарь], vols. 1–13 (A–D), Moskva: Rukopisnye pamjatniki Drevnej Rusi / Institut russkogo jazyka RAN, p. 8, 209
14. ^ a b c d e Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. воля
15. ^ a b Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. воля
16. ^ Kuznetsov, S. A. (ed.) (1998), Bol'šoj tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Большой толковый словарь русского языка], Sankt-Peterburg: Norint, p. s.v. воля
17. ^ a b Efremova, T. F. (2000), Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. воля
18. ^ Epishkin, N. I. (2010), Istoričeskij slovar' gallicizmov russkogo jazyka [Исторический словарь галлицизмов русского языка], Moskva: ÈTS, p. s.v. воля
19. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 348