ночь

Forms

ночь (nočʹ) f inan (genitive но́чи, nominative plural но́чи, genitive plural ноче́й, relational adjective ночно́й, diminutive но́чка or но́ченька)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic ночь (nočĭ), from Proto-Slavic *noťь (“night”), earlier *noktь.^[1][2][3] The Slavic forms are Ukrainian ніч (nič), Belarusian ноч (noč), Old Church Slavonic ношть (noštĭ), Bulgarian нощ (nošt), Slovene nóč, Czech noc and Polish noc.^[4] The archaic нощь, with the Old Church Slavonic ⟨щ⟩ for East Slavic ⟨ч⟩, is a doublet borrowed from Church Slavonic.^[4][1]

The noun continues the Indo-European consonant stem Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.^[1][4][3] Its cognates are Lithuanian naktìs, Latvian nakts, Old Prussian naktin (accusative), Latin nox, Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts), Old High German naht, Albanian natë and Hittite nekuz (“evening”).^[4][3] Shaposhnikov derives the stem from a verbal root *nekʷ- (“to grow dark”).^[3] ночьсь (nočĭsĭ, “last night”), Russian ночесь, adds the pronoun сей.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Izbornik of 1076 has „И въ другую ночь видѣ тъ же сънъ” “And on another night he saw the same dream”.^[5] Chernykh dates the word in Old Russian from the 11th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Lay of Igor's Campaign uses ночь three times, among them „Длъго ночь мрькнетъ” “long does the night grow dark” and Vseslav prowling въ ночь as a wolf.^[6] Chernykh dates ночьсь “last night” and the adjective ночьный from the 12th century, and ночевати “to spend the night” from the 14th.^[2]

In fishing ночь became a unit of fishing: from the 15th century, a night's catch, or the right to fish a weir for one night, was bought and sold (на Шекснѣ ночь, 1556).^[5] Dialects have many set phrases, such as воробьиная ночь, a very short summer night.^[7]

Timeline

• 1076 – ночь in the Izbornik of 1076.^[5]
• end of the 12th century – ночь in the Lay of Igor's Campaign.^[6]
• 12th century – the adjective ночьный and the adverb ночьсь.^[2]
• 14th century – the verb ночевати.^[2]
• 1432–1445 – ночь “one night's fishing” in a charter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. night: the part of the day from sunset to sunrise.^[8][1]

Word family

• ночной
• ночка
• ноченька
• ночевать
• ночлег
• ночью
• полночь
• ночник

Related words

• нощь
• Old East Slavic ночь (nočĭ)

Usage notes

Set phrases include на ночь “before going to bed”, на ночь глядя “late in the evening” and спокойной ночи! “good night!”.^[8] A dialect noun ночь “strength”, in ночи нет, was recorded in Kursk and Arkhangelsk in 1852.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ночь
3. ^ a b c d Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 31
4. ^ 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. 3, 86–87
5. ^ 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. 11, 433
6. ^ a b 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. ночь
7. ^ 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. 21, 304
8. ^ a b Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. ночь
9. ^ 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. 21, 305