мочь

мочь¹ to be able

Pronunciation

• [mot͡ɕ]^[1]

Forms

мочь (močʹ) impf (perfective смочь)^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to be able” is inherited from Old East Slavic мочи (moči), first person могу (mogu), from Proto-Slavic *moťi, earlier *mogti, first person *mogǫ.^[2][3][1] The Slavic forms include Old Church Slavonic мошти (mošti), могѫ (mogǫ), Ukrainian могти (mohty), Bulgarian мо́га (móga, “I can”), Czech moci and Polish móc.^[2][4] The infinitive changed regularly: /gt/ became /kt/ and then ⟨ч⟩, as in ночь, and the final unstressed ⟨-и⟩ was dropped.^[5][6] The Church Slavonic infinitive is мощи (mošti).^[3]

Vasmer sees in the Proto-Slavic present the relic of an unreduplicated perfect of an athematic verb.^[2] The closest cognate is the Germanic verb Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able”) (whence may); further comparisons are Lithuanian mėgti (“to like”), Latvian mēgt (“to be able; to be used to”) and Ancient Greek μῆχος (mêkhos, “means, remedy”), with μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “device”).^[2][7][1] The root is given as Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”).^[1][3] Vasmer rejects a link with Latin magnus and Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas), and also a Germanic or a Celtic loan.^[2] Melnichuk took “to pull” as the original sense, from verbs such as вымогать and домогаться.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chernykh's first record of мочи, могу is in the pilgrimage of Daniel the Abbot, in the 12th century; books more often have the Church Slavonic мощи.^[3] Shaposhnikov lists the Old Russian senses “to be strong enough (to do something)”, “to be healthy” and “to have power or influence”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Shaposhnikov dates the sense “to be well off, to own property (of a given size)” to the 16th century and 1670, and notes the old phrases не мози “do not” and можетъ быти “perhaps”.^[7] The 18th-century language had the Church Slavonic мощи beside мочь, and used the verb of things as well as of people.^[8] The participle могучий, as an adjective, is recorded in the Academy dictionary of 1793.^[3][7]

The old sense “to be healthy” survives in dialects: можешь ли? asks after someone's health.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 12th century – мочи, могу in Daniel the Abbot's pilgrimage.^[3]
• 16th century – “to be well off” among the senses of the verb.^[7]
• 1793 – могучий recorded as an adjective in the Academy dictionary.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be able, to have the strength (to do something), followed by an infinitive.^[11][12]
2. To have the possibility or permission to do something, once an obstacle is removed.^[13]
3. In может быть or быть может (parenthetical): perhaps, maybe.^[11]
4. (regional) To be healthy.^[9]

Word family

• смочь
• помочь
• превозмочь
• изнемочь
• занемочь
• вымогать
• домогаться
• могучий

мочь² might, strength

Pronunciation

• [mot͡ɕ]^[1]

Forms

мочь (močʹ) f inan (genitive мо́чи, nominative plural мо́чи, genitive plural мо́чей)^[1]

Etymology

The noun “might” is inherited from Old East Slavic мочь (močĭ), from Proto-Slavic *moťь, earlier *moktь.^[14][1][4] It is shared by Ukrainian міч (mič), Old Church Slavonic мошть (moštĭ, “strength, power”), Bulgarian мощ (mošt), Czech moc (“a great deal”) and Polish moc.^[14][4] Vasmer derives it from *mogǫ (“I can”), the verb мочь¹.^[14] ESRJa suggests it may be formed from Proto-Slavic *moga (“strength”), as in подмога and вельможа.^[4] Tsyganenko instead takes the infinitive *mogti to be a frozen dative of this noun.^[6]

Its closest cognate is the Germanic noun Proto-Germanic *mahtiz, seen in Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts, “might”) and Old High German maht;^[14] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *mógʰtis.^[1] Vasmer finds no ground for a Germanic loan.^[14] мощь is the Church Slavonic form of the same word.^[1][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The First Novgorod Chronicle has it under 1224, of the Polovtsians' defeat: и тоу имъ не бы мочи “and there they had no strength (to resist)”.^[15] Chernykh also cites the Novgorod chronicle under the year 6732 (1224).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian used the word for physical strength and also, in a south-western charter of 1388, for authority.^[15] In the modern language it is low colloquial and lives in fixed phrases: что есть мочи and изо всей мочи “with all one's might”, мочи нет “it is unbearable”.^[11][16]

Timeline

• 1224 – мочи “strength” in the First Novgorod Chronicle (13th–14th-century manuscript).^[15]
• 1388 – “authority” in a charter.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (low colloquial) strength, might, the ability to do something, mostly in set phrases.^[11][16]

Word family

• немочь
• невмочь