есть

есть¹ to eat

Pronunciation

• [jesʲtʲ]^[1]

Forms

есть (jestʹ) impf (perfective съесть or пое́сть)^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to eat” is inherited from Old East Slavic ѣсти (ěsti), from Proto-Slavic *ěsti (“to eat”), first person singular *ědmь.^[2][3][1] Its Slavic relatives include Ukrainian їсти (jisty), Belarusian есці (jesci), Bulgarian ям (jam), Slovene jésti, Czech jísti and Polish jeść.^[2][4]

It is an Indo-European verb: Lithuanian ėsti (“to eat (of animals)”), Latvian ēst, Old Prussian īst, Ancient Greek ἔδω (édō), Latin edō and Old High German ezzan are its cognates.^[2][5] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, from the root *h₁ed- (“to eat”).^[1][3]

In the infinitive ⟨*ěd-ti⟩ the cluster /dt/ became /st/, as in вести; in the first person ⟨*ědmь⟩ /dm/ was simplified, giving ⟨ем⟩.^[6][7] Initial ⟨ě-⟩ was probably kept, instead of the expected ⟨ja-⟩, under the influence of *sъněsti (“to eat up”).^[2] Old Russian ⟨ѣ⟩ became /e/ in Russian.^[7] еда and обед belong to the same root.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chernykh dates the verb in Old Russian from the 11th century.^[5] The oldest dated quotation in SlRJa XI–XVII is in the Russkaya Pravda, a 12th-century text in a copy of 1282: the bridge-builder is to ride with a servant on two horses, take four baskets of oats a week, „а ѣсти что можета” “and eat what they can”.^[8] The Uspensky sbornik of the 12th–13th century has „Не подаша ему ни ѣсти ни пити” “they gave him nothing to eat or drink”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian also used ѣсти и пити for keeping oneself, having one's living, as in a grant of 1649 to the Don Cossacks of food and drink „довольно” “in plenty”.^[8] The 18th century still wrote ѣсть and also used the Church Slavonic forms ясти, ям.^[9]

The transferred senses are modern: rust or acid “eats” metal, smoke “eats” the eyes, and in common speech a person “eats” another by nagging him.^[3][10] Slang uses the verb for pestering someone.^[11]

Timeline

• 12th century (copy of 1282) – ѣсти in the Russkaya Pravda.^[8]
• 12th–13th century – „ни ѣсти ни пити” in the Uspensky sbornik.^[8]
• 1649 – „ѣсть и пить довольно”, food and drink granted to Cossacks.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To eat, take food; to eat a certain food: она не ест рыбы “she doesn't eat fish”.^[10][12]
2. (third person) To corrode, destroy chemically, as rust does iron.^[10]
3. (third person) Of smoke or something caustic, to make the eyes or skin smart.^[3][13]
4. (figurative, colloquial) To nag, scold or torment someone.^[3][13]

Word family

• съесть
• поесть
• съедать
• разъедать
• заедать
• едок

есть² yes, sir

Etymology tree of есть²

inherited borrowed derived

English yes

Russian есть

Pronunciation

• [jesʲtʲ]^[1]

Forms

есть (jestʹ)^[1]

Etymology

The reply to an order is borrowed from English yes, according to Vasmer, who adds that it was assimilated by folk etymology to есть “is”, the form of быть.^[14] Wiktionary also takes it from English.^[1] Shansky sees a blend of the English word and the verb form “there is”, which was used for consent from the 16th century.^[15]

ESRJa calls it a Russian word, which arose in the navy, probably in the middle of the 19th century, as an emphatic use of the verb.^[16] It allows that English yes may have played a part, but doubts a direct borrowing, as the Academy dictionary claims;^[16] it compares Serbo-Croatian јест (jest, “yes”).^[16] Shakhmatov classed the word as an adverb, not an interjection, because of its full lexical meaning.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

ESRJa finds the reply in Dal's stories of the 1840s and 1850s.^[16] Michelson quotes Dal's Pictures of Russian Life, where a voice is heard „перед исполнительным свистом или откликом: есть!” “before the whistle of execution or the reply: aye!”.^[17] He also quotes the sailors' English answer yes, yes! to the lieutenant's orders in Marlinsky's story A Night on a Ship.^[17]

Semantic evolution

Sluchevsky, describing a voyage of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, notes that on the clipper the orderly answers any order with „есть стакан воды” “aye, a glass of water” or simply „есть”; the Academy dictionary of 1891 quotes him.^[16] Dal defines it as a naval answer to a hail or an order: “I hear, I am doing it, ready”.^[18] Outside the navy it became a general military reply, and in everyday speech an exclamation of agreement or triumph.^[1]

Timeline

• 1840s–1850s – есть! in Dal's stories.^[16]
• 1891 – recorded in the Academy dictionary, with Sluchevsky's description.^[16]

Meanings

Interjection

1. (military, nautical) The reply to an order or a hail, “yes, sir”, at sea aye-aye.^[18][1]
2. (colloquial) okay, right, roger; also a cry of triumph, “yes!”.^[1]