от

Forms

от (ot)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic отъ (otŭ), from Proto-Slavic *otъ (“from”).^[1][2] It is a preposition and a verbal prefix in all the Slavic languages: Ukrainian від (vid) (its ⟨-д⟩ by analogy with під (pid) and над (nad)), Old Church Slavonic отъ (otŭ), Bulgarian от (ot), Serbo-Croatian od, Slovene od, Czech od, Slovak od, Polish od, Upper Sorbian wot and Lower Sorbian wót.^[3][2] Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic also had a form without the final jer, as in отити (otiti, “to go away”) and отрокъ (otrokŭ, “boy, servant”);^[4] Machek took the ⟨-ъ⟩ to be a later addition after prepositions such as *kъ.^[4]

The closest relatives are the Baltic prefixes Lithuanian at- (“back, away; to”), Latvian at (“from, back”) and Old Prussian at-, et-.^[3][4][2] Vasmer adds Old High German ita- (“again, back”), Old Irish aith-, Ancient Greek ἔτι (éti, “moreover, still”) and Latin et (“and”),^[3] but Chernykh calls the origin unclear in its details and the comparisons beyond Baltic and Indo-Iranian disputed.^[4] Wiktionary derives the Balto-Slavic form from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óti, an o-grade of *h₁éti (“beyond, further”), or else from *h₂éti (“but”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Ostromir Gospel of 1056–1057 has it with the genitive of the place left behind: „бѣжашя отъ гроба” “they fled from the tomb”.^[5] The Izbornik of 1076 uses it for the soul leaving the body: „ѥгда д҃ша изидеть ѿ тѣла” “when the soul goes out from the body”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

With about 30,000 occurrences the preposition is one of the commonest words in the Old Russian texts, where it already marks the starting point of a movement and the source or cause of something.^[6] The Lay of Igor's Campaign has „отъ Дона, и отъ моря” “from the Don, from the sea”.^[5] As a prefix it marks the end of an action or a movement away, as in отобедать.^[3][4] The form ото is used before some groups of consonants (ото всех).^[7]

Timeline

• 1056–1057 – отъ гроба “from the tomb” in the Ostromir Gospel.^[5]
• 1076 – ѿ тѣла “from the body” in the Izbornik of 1076.^[6]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with the genitive) from: the starting point of a movement or a range, as in от дома до школы “from home to school”.^[8][9]
2. From: the source of something, as in письмо от брата “a letter from my brother”.^[8]
3. Of, belonging to: the whole a part is taken from, as in крышка от кастрюли “the lid of the pan”.^[8]
4. Against, for: something to be kept off or removed, as in лекарство от кашля “cough medicine”.^[8]
5. With, because of: a cause, as in дрожать от холода “to shiver with cold”.^[8]
6. From: something set against another, as in отличить правду от лжи “to tell truth from lies”.^[8]
7. Dated: письмо от пятого мая “a letter of the fifth of May”.^[1]

Word family

• отныне
• отсюда
• оттуда
• отовсюду

Related words

• Old East Slavic отъ (otŭ)

Usage notes

The preposition is unstressed, except where the stress moves to it from the noun: о́т роду, час о́т часу.^[10][9] The prefix is written отъ- before е, ё and я (отъехать) and ото- before some groups of consonants.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 382
3. ^ a b c d Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 168
4. ^ 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. от
5. ^ a b c 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. отъ
6. ^ a b c 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. 6, s.v. отъ
7. ^ a b Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. ото
8. ^ a b c d e f Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. от
9. ^ 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. от
10. ^ Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. от
11. ^ Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. отъ...