довлеть

Forms

довле́ть (dovlétʹ) impf^[1] Before 1918 the verb was spelled довлѣть; 18th-century poetry still has the Church Slavonic infinitive довлѣти and lines such as „Мнѣ маслина одна довлѣет” “one olive is enough for me”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic довьлѣти (dovĭlěti, “to suffice”), from Proto-Slavic *dovьlěti (“to suffice”).^[1][3][4] Tsyganenko dates the borrowing to the Old Russian period; the modern form lost the jer and the final ⟨-и⟩, and ⟨ѣ⟩ became ⟨е⟩.^[5] In the Codex Suprasliensis the Old Church Slavonic verb renders Ancient Greek ἀρκέω (arkéō, “to suffice”), and Ukrainian довліти (dovlity) has the same sense.^[6] Chernykh notes that Belarusian and the other Slavic languages lack the verb,^[7] but Derksen cites Slovene dovlẹ́ti (“to suffice”).^[4]

ESRJa and Shansky analyse it as a derivative in ⟨-ěti⟩ of the noun Old Church Slavonic довълъ (dovŭlŭ, “sufficiency, property”), which Sreznevsky records in Old Russian;^[3][8] Tsyganenko traces that noun to a prepositional phrase meaning “up to one's will”.^[5] Derksen takes it as a prefixed verb, *do and *vьlěti.^[4] Either way the root is that of велеть and воля, in the reduced grade *vьl-;^[6][7][3] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to wish”), the root of Proto-Germanic *wiljaną (“to want”).^[1] довольный belongs to the same family.^[7][9]

The modern sense “to dominate, weigh on” is not a development of the old one: Chernykh and Shaposhnikov ascribe it to folk etymology, which linked the verb to давить “to press”;^[7][9][3] Ushakov thought of a false connection with давление “pressure”,^[10] and Vinogradov dates the contamination with that noun to the last quarter of the 19th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Russian has довълѣти, sometimes доволѣти, “to be sufficient” from the 11th century.^[7][12] Shaposhnikov lists the 11th–17th-century forms давълѣти, доволѣти and довлѣти, all “to be enough, to suffice”.^[9] The Gospel saying довлеет дневи злоба его “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” kept the verb in use, and злободневный “topical” comes from it.^[11]

Semantic evolution

At the end of the 17th century the impersonal довлеет took on the sense “it is fitting, one ought” in place of “it is enough”.^[11] Peter I wrote to Tsarevich Alexei in 1708 „а самим их наказывать не довлеет” “and it is not fitting to punish them ourselves”, as that was against the law of nations.^[11] The 18th-century dictionary gives both “to suffice” and “to be due, to befit”, with Trediakovsky and Shishkov objecting that the word means “enough”, not “must”.^[2] Barsov's grammar blamed this use on those who did not understand the church books, and Buslaev called it an error of 18th-century writers.^[11]

The old sense survived in довлеть себе “to be self-sufficient” (compare самодовлеющий), which Herzen used.^[11][13] In the late 19th century the verb was drawn towards давление: in 1890 Korolenko corrected a writer who had used недуг довлеет, reminding him that the verb means “to be sufficient”.^[11] The construction довлеть над “to weigh on, dominate” came into use late and reached the dictionaries only in 1935, when Ushakov recorded it as incorrect.^[7][9][10] Ozhegov now gives it as the second sense without a label, while Efremova marks it colloquial and substandard.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 11th century – довълѣти “to be sufficient” in Old Russian.^[7]
• 1708 – не довлеет “it is not fitting” in a letter of Peter I.^[11]
• 1772 – как довлеет честному и доброму человеку “as befits an honest and good man” in the journal Живописец.^[11]
• 1890 – Korolenko objects to довлеть in the sense “to weigh on”.^[11]
• 1935 – Ushakov's dictionary records довлеть над as an incorrect use.^[7][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated, bookish) To suffice, to be enough for someone or something (кому-чему).^[13][15][10]
2. To dominate, to weigh on or hang over someone or something (над кем-чем).^[13][16][1]
3. довлеть себе (dated, bookish) To be self-sufficient, to depend on nothing else.^[13][9]

Word family

• самодовлеющий
• злободневный

Related words

• велеть
• воля
• удовлетворить
• удовлетворять
• довольный

Usage notes

Ushakov called the sense “to weigh on” incorrect,^[10] and Efremova and Kuznetsov still label it colloquial.^[14][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. довлети
3. ^ 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. 5, s.v. довлеть
4. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 114
5. ^ a b Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. довлеть
6. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 521
7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. довлеть
8. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Bobrova, T. A. (2004), Škol'nyj ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка], 7th ed., Moskva: Drofa, p. s.v. довлеть
9. ^ a b c d e f Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 233
10. ^ a b c d Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. довлеть
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vinogradov, V. V. (1999), Istorija slov [История слов], Moskva: Institut russkogo jazyka RAN (online edition, etymolog.ruslang.ru), p. s.v. довлеть
12. ^ 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. довълѣти
13. ^ 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. довлеть
14. ^ 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. довлеть
15. ^ 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. довлеть
16. ^ a b Kuznetsov, S. A. (ed.) (1998), Bol'šoj tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Большой толковый словарь русского языка], Sankt-Peterburg: Norint, p. s.v. довлеть