Etymologically
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люди

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈlʲʉdʲɪ], [ˈlʲud͡zʲi][1]
  • Russia, Southern: [ˈlʲʉdʲi][1]
  • Ukraine: [ˈlʲudʲi][1]

Forms

лю́ди (ljúdi) m anim pl (genitive люде́й, plural only, relational adjective людско́й, pejorative люди́шки)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic людиѥ (ljudije), from Proto-Slavic *ľudьje (“people”), the nominative plural of the collective noun *ľudь beside *ľudъ, Russian люд “folk”.[1][2][3][4] Shaposhnikov notes that the collective sense of the plural is secondary.[3] The other Slavic languages have Old Church Slavonic людиѥ (ljudije), Ukrainian люди (ljudy), Bulgarian люде (ljúde), Czech lidé and Polish ludzie.[2]

The noun is related to Lithuanian liáudis (“the common people”), Latvian ļaudis (“people”), Old High German liut (“people”) (German Leute), Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, “free”) and Latin līber (“free”), and further to Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (liudan, “to grow”).[2][5] All of these go back to the root Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“to grow”), and Wiktionary reconstructs the noun as *h₁léwdʰis.[5][6][1] ESRJa sets out two explanations of the sense: people who grew up together as one stock, or the free, land-working members of a community as against the unfree.[6] Vasmer rejects a Germanic origin of the Slavic word.[2]

The word serves as the plural of человек.[5][7] Old Russian had a singular людинъ (ljudinŭ, “free man”), which survives in простолюдин.[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chernykh gives людие from the Ostromir Gospel of 1056–1057, людье from the Russkaya Pravda, and the modern люди from the Primary Chronicle, under the year 955.[5] Old Russian also had людьскый “human, of people” from the 11th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Russian the word meant “people” in general and also “the people” as a body: the Lay of Igor's Campaign says that Prince Vseslav “judged the people”, his subjects.[9] Shaposhnikov lists the Old Russian derivatives мьноголюдиѥ and полюдиѥ.[3]

The 18th-century dictionary has the word for rational beings as opposed to animals, and with adjectives for kinds of people (молодые люди).[10] In noble and wealthy households, люди were the servants;[7][11] Ozhegov labels this sense dated.[7][11]

Timeline

  • 1056–1057 – людие in the Ostromir Gospel.[5]
  • 11th century – the adjective людьскый.[5]
  • 955 (entry of the Primary Chronicle, Laurentian copy of 1377) – the form люди.[5]
  • 1534 – люди as the name of the letter ⟨л⟩, in a later copy of Lyubchanin's herbal.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. people: the plural of человек.[7][1]
  2. People of a certain group or kind, with an attribute: люди науки “scientists”, молодые люди “young people”.[7][13]
  3. Other people, everyone else: что люди скажут? “what will people say?”.[7]
  4. Staff, personnel, the people available for a task.[14]
  5. (dated) Servants in a manor house.[7][14]

Word family

  • людской
  • людный
  • безлюдный
  • многолюдный
  • людишки
  • людоед
  • простолюдин

Usage notes

Люди is also the old name of the letter ⟨л⟩;[12] ESRJa takes this name from Old Church Slavonic, first recorded in Lyubchanin's herbal.[6][12] The phrase выйти в люди means “to make one's way in the world”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 545
  3. ^ a b c Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 486
  4. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 282
  5. ^ 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. люди
  6. ^ a b c 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. люди
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. люди
  8. ^ Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. люди
  9. ^ 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. люди
  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. люди
  11. ^ a b Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. люди
  12. ^ a b c 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. 8, 343
  13. ^ 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. люди
  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. люди