ять

ять¹ letter yat

Pronunciation

• [jætʲ]^[1]

Forms

ять (jatʹ) m inan (genitive я́тя, nominative plural я́ти, genitive plural я́тей)^[1]

Etymology

The letter yat is ⟨ѣ⟩, which in Russian corresponded to a vowel /eː/.^[2] Vasmer traces the sign to Old Church Slavonic script, where it expressed /ä/, continuing Proto-Slavic /ě/; he gives no etymology of the name.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TOROT corpus of Old Russian has the name once, in Burtsov's alphabet book.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sound of ⟨ѣ⟩ later merged with that of ⟨е⟩, and the letter was used in the Russian alphabet until the spelling reform of 1917–1918.^[4][5] Dal, who counts it the 30th letter of the civil alphabet and the 33rd of the church one, complained that its value had been lost so far that spelling with it had become unsteady.^[6] Chekhov wrote in 1887 that he would abolish ять, фита, ижица and ⟨і⟩, which only hindered schooling.^[7]

The colloquial на ять means “excellently, as it should be”, and корову через ять пишет “he writes корова with a yat” is said of someone barely literate.^[8][5]

Timeline

• 1887 – Chekhov proposes to abolish ять.^[7]
• 1917–1918 – the letter is dropped from the Russian alphabet.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. yat: the name of the letter ⟨ѣ⟩ of the Church Slavonic and old Russian alphabet.^[4][5][1]

ять² to take

Pronunciation

• [jætʲ]^[1]

Forms

ять (jatʹ) pf (imperfective има́ть)^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to take” is inherited from Old East Slavic яти (jati), present иму (imu), from Proto-Slavic *ęti (“to take”), present *jьmǫ.^[9][10][1] Compare Old Church Slavonic ѩти (jęti), present имѫ (imǫ), with -ьмѫ (-ĭmǫ) after a prefix;^[9][11] the other forms include Ukrainian яти (jaty), Polish jąć (“to begin; to seize”), Serbo-Croatian jeti and Slovene jeti (“to begin”).^[9]

It is related to Lithuanian imti (“to take”), Old Prussian īmt and Latin emō (“to take, to buy”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).^{[9][10][12][1]} иметь and имать are formed from the same verb.^[13][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TOROT corpus finds яти in the treaty of 1229 between Smolensk, Riga and Gotland, often in the Laurentian and Hypatian copies of the Primary Chronicle and in the First Novgorod Chronicle, and in birchbark letters.^[3] Sreznevsky records the senses “to take, seize, capture, catch, reach, overtake, wound”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

ESRJa notes that яти still existed in Old Russian, while modern Russian keeps it only in prefixed verbs such as внять, занять, отнять and снять;^[12] взять is a prefixed derivative of the same verb.^[15][12] Dal knew ять as an old church word that was still used in places in the east, for “to take, catch” and “to begin” (яло гореть “it began to burn”).^[16] вероятный is made from вера and this verb, and Bulgarian borrowed it from Russian.^[17]

Timeline

• 1229 – яти in the treaty between Smolensk, Riga and Gotland.^[3]
• 1377 – яти in the Laurentian Codex of the Primary Chronicle.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete) To take, to seize.^[1][16]
2. (obsolete) To acquire, to receive.^[1]
3. (regional) To begin.^[16][9]

Word family

• взять
• внять
• занять
• отнять
• снять
• изъять
• объять