лето

Forms

ле́то (léto) n inan (genitive ле́та, nominative plural лета́, genitive plural лет, relational adjective ле́тний or ле́тный)^[1] Before 1918 it was spelt лѣто, as in „Писано в обозѣ под Азовом лѣта 1695” “written in the camp before Azov in the year 1695”.^[2][1] The genitive plural лет serves as the genitive plural of год after numerals: пять лет “five years”.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic лѣто (lěto, “time; year; summer”), from Proto-Slavic *lěto (“summer; year”).^[1][3][5] The word is common Slavic: Old Church Slavonic лѣто (lěto) renders Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos) and ἔτος (étos), and there are Ukrainian літо (lito), Bulgarian лято (ljato), Czech léto, Polish lato and Upper Sorbian lěto (“year”).^[6][3]

Its origin is unclear, and no etymology is generally accepted.^[3][7] The main views:^[7]

• Vasmer thinks it possibly related to the Swedish dialect word låding (“spring”) and to Old Irish laithe (“day”), which would make it a Celtic–Slavic word;^[6] Björkman and Ahlqvist, however, suspected the Scandinavian words of coming from Middle English.^[6] Chernykh takes only the Irish word as a sure cognate and starts from a base meaning “the time when the sun shines and warms”.^[3]
• Vaillant derived it from the root of Lithuanian lėtas (“soft, quiet, slow”) and Latvian lēts (“light”), meaning “to slacken”, so that the word first meant “the mild time, when the cold relents”;^[7] Sławski thought this the most likely, and Anikin developed it.^[7] Shaposhnikov, Shansky and Bobrova follow it.^[8][9]
• Others connected it with лить “to pour” and Lithuanian lietus (“rain”), as “the time of rains”.^[6][10]
• Machek took the word to be an adjective “fine”, agreeing with an understood *vermę (“time”), and related to Latin laetus (“glad”).^[6]

Vasmer rejects a loan from Old Irish líth (“feast”) and calls a link with волна pure guesswork.^[6] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *leh₁tóm (“warm part of the year”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Miklosich cites the Ostromir Gospel of 1056–1057 for лѣто in the sense “time”, Greek χρόνος.^[11] Chernykh dates the Old Russian word from the 11th century in the senses “time in general”, “year” and “summer”.^[3] The Novgorod Menaion for November of 1097 has „въ послѣдьняя лѣта” “in the last times”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Russian the word was above all the “year” of dates, as in „въ лѣто 6576” “in the year 6576” on the Tmutarakan stone of 1068;^[13] Shansky and Bobrova link the counting of years by summers with летопись “chronicle”.^[9] The Lay of Igor's Campaign has „минула лѣта Ярославля” “the years of Yaroslav are gone”.^[12] The 18th century still used it mainly for “year”, with phrases such as многая лѣта “many years”, a wish for long life.^[2]

In modern Russian it means “summer”; the plural лета “years, age” is dated or poetic.^[4] In Olonets лето also means “south”, and летний ветер a south wind;^[6] Shansky and Bobrova explain this from the warm weather.^[9]

Timeline

• 1056–1057 – лѣто “time” in the Ostromir Gospel.^[11]
• 1068 – въ лѣто “in the year” on the Tmutarakan stone.^[13]
• 1097 – лѣта “times” in the Novgorod Menaion for November.^[12]
• end of the 12th century – лѣта Ярославля “the years of Yaroslav” in the Lay of Igor's Campaign.^[12]
• 1695 – лѣта 1695 “in the year 1695” in a letter of Peter the Great.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. summer: the warmest season, between spring and autumn.^[14][15][1]
2. (genitive plural лет)'' years, used as the genitive plural of год after numerals.^[4][3]
3. (plural лета, dated or poetic) years of life, age;^[4][1] в летах means “elderly”.^[4][1]
4. (archaic) A year.^[2][4]
5. (regional) The south.^[6]

Word family

• летний
• летом
• летник
• летопись
• летописец
• летоисчисление
• летосчисление

Related words

• -летний
• Old East Slavic лѣто (lěto)

Usage notes

Set phrases include бабье лето “Indian summer” and сколько лет, сколько зим! “long time no see!”.^[15][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. лето
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. лето
4. ^ a b c d e f Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. лето
5. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 274
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 488–489
7. ^ 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. 9, s.v. лето
8. ^ Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 467
9. ^ a b c 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. лето
10. ^ Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. лето
11. ^ a b Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
12. ^ a b c d 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. лѣто
13. ^ a b Avanesov, R. I. et al. (eds.) (1988–), Slovar' drevnerusskogo jazyka (XI–XIV vv.) [Словарь древнерусского языка (XI–XIV вв.)], vols. 1–13, Moskva: Russkij jazyk / Azbukovnik, p. 5, 79
14. ^ a b Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. лето
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. лето