Etymologically
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ляда

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Etymology

It continues Proto-Slavic *lędo (“uncultivated land”).[1][2] Old Russian had Old East Slavic лядина (ljadina, “waste land, weeds, thicket”) and лядѣти (ljaděti, “to become overgrown”).[1] The Slavic relatives are Ukrainian лядо (ljado, “place in a forest overgrown with pine”), Belarusian лядо (ljado, “virgin land”), Bulgarian ледина (ledina, “virgin land, mountain meadow”), Serbo-Croatian ledina (“waste land”), Slovene ledína, Czech lado (“fallow land”), Polish ląd (“dry land, continent”) and Upper Sorbian lado (“fallow land”).[1][3]

The Proto-Slavic word is related to Old Prussian lindan (“valley”), an accusative; with another grade of the vowel, to Swedish dialect linda (“fallow”) and Irish land (“open space”), and the Gothic word for land.[1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“heath, land”).[2] A link with Old Norse lundr (“grove”) is unclear.[1] Vasmer rejects Shakhmatov's view that the word is Celtic, since a Celtic loan would have given *lǫdo;[1] Trubachev adds that Rudnicki held the Indo-European form to be a pre-Indo-European word.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

SlRJa's earliest record is a boundary description of 1570, which runs „на Ондрееву ляду” “to Ondrei's clearing”: a field or abandoned ploughland overgrown with young trees.[4] A 17th-century copy of a Life written about 1598 has ляда жещи “to burn a clearing”, that is, to burn the felled trees to make ploughland.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to slash-and-burn farming: SRNG describes the ляда as a piece of forest felled and burnt for ploughland or hay, and quotes a speaker from Velikiye Luki for its cycle: first mixed woodland, then felled, burnt and ploughed.[5] The 18th century knew лядина and ляда as a clearing or field overgrown with young wood, and the farming phrase чистить ляды “to fell young wood and burn it to manure the field for corn”.[6] In the dialects it also means a low damp place grown over with wood or bushes, a dense wood, waste land and a damp patch among crops where corn grows badly.[7][8] The standard dictionaries mark it as regional.[9]

Timeline

  • 1570 – ляду “clearing” in a boundary description.[4]
  • about 1598 – ляда жещи “to burn a clearing”, in a later copy.[4]
  • 18th century – чистить ляды “to clear and burn young wood for sowing”.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (regional) A low damp place overgrown with wood or bushes.[9][7]
  2. (regional) A place cleared for meadow or ploughland; a clearing made by felling and burning.[9][5]
  3. (regional) A ravine.[9]

Word family

  • лядина
  • лядинка

Usage notes

The stress varies: Vasmer has ляда́, MAS and BAS ля́да, and the dialects both.[1][5][9] A different word ляда means a shutter, a small door of a Russian stove or a trapdoor;[10][11] Dal took it from German, and Myznikov leaves open a comparison with Finnish and Sami words for a board.[10][11] Another, in southern dialects, means the devil, a disease, a sickly person or a lazybones.[12]

References

  1. ^ 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, 549
  2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ Preobrazhensky, A. G. (1910–1914), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2 vols. (A–T; vol. 3, T–Ja, 1949), Moskva: Lissner & Sovko, p. 1, 532
  4. ^ a b c d 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, 349
  5. ^ a b c 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. 17, 259
  6. ^ 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. лядина
  7. ^ a b Myznikov, S. A. (2019), Russkij dialektnyj ètimologičeskij slovar'. Leksika kontaktnyx regionov [Русский диалектный этимологический словарь. Лексика контактных регионов], Moskva / Sankt-Peterburg: Nestor-Istorija, p. 467
  8. ^ 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. 17, 261
  9. ^ a b c d e 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. ляда
  10. ^ a b Dal', V. I. (1880–1882), Tolkovyj slovar' živago velikorusskago jazyka [Толковый словарь живаго великорусскаго языка], 2nd ed., 4 vols., Sankt-Peterburg / Moskva: M. O. Vol'f, p. s.v. ляда
  11. ^ a b Myznikov, S. A. (2019), Russkij dialektnyj ètimologičeskij slovar'. Leksika kontaktnyx regionov [Русский диалектный этимологический словарь. Лексика контактных регионов], Moskva / Sankt-Peterburg: Nestor-Istorija, p. 468
  12. ^ 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. 17, 262