# Unknown Slavic language: Podstoy



## Quentin Dollinger

This is from a letter written by a Hungarian baron in 1822:

"First, I need to report most humbly that the wonderful Petrarch finally in my claws, and no tsar, no Knes, no Hospodar, no Podstoy and no Utschitl can take it from me." 

My footnote on this passage: “The language is Slavic thereby indicating the despotic style of the authorities. Knes (russ. Knjas) is a reigning prince, hospodar (russ. gospodar) belonged to the princes of todays’ Romania. Utschitl is teacher in most Slavic languages. Probably a descending sequence from large to little despots."

The only one I can't identify is Podstoy. Can anyone identify this word?


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## jazyk

I don't know what language it might be, but it gives me the idea of a subordinate (pod = below, under, stoi, from stát - and cognates, meaning to stand).


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## BezierCurve

There is a *подстой *in Russian, but as far as I could find out its meaning is either "basis" or "dried wood". It could possibly have another meaning in past. 

There is also a *подстоли* (podstoli), a person having some administrative function, which can be also found in Polish - see Wikipedia.


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## Quentin Dollinger

Thanks, podstoli is a distinct possibility. I'll leave this open in case anyone else has further thoughts on this.

I'll be on vacation starting tomorrow, so I will thank anyone else in advance for their contributions from May 3 on.


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## sokol

Quentin Dollinger said:


> ... Probably a descending sequence from large to little despots."


Your guess should be correct - it really has to be a descending sequence, thus a podstoy might be a low-ranking nobility; but as for the exact meaning (and origin) of podstoy I can't give any help.

You should look for Slavic low-rank nobility names in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (as the one who wrote that letter was Hungarian), but I think you can rule out Slovenian - to my knowledge no rank of podstoy existed there.


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## sauge

It looks like "podstoj", which should come from "pod" (=under) and "stoj" (stand); an administative rank "under" some higher rank of government; "vice-chancellor"?, "vice-administrator"? It should be "vice-something". 
It looks like a historic title, no longer in use.


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## TriglavNationalPark

I checked _Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika_ and found the archaic verb *podstopiti se*, meaning "to undertake (a task)". The word "entrepreneur", which English borrowed from French, also derives from the French verb meaning "to undertake (a task)". Modern Slovenian has the word *podjetnik* (=entrepreneur), but I wonder if this generic Slavic "podstoy" is etymologically related to *podstopiti se*?

Of course, it wouldn't have meant "entrepreneur" ("someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it") in that historical context, but perhaps its meaning, which is still unknown to us, is distantly related? Of course, this is wild speculation and probably nonsense, but we're still guessing at this point.

BTW, sauge is probably closer to the truth; his/her explanation has parallels in words such as *predstojnik*.


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## Azori

Maybe not related, but Slovak has a word *poddanstvo *meaning serfdom and *poddaný/**poddaní* (adj. used as a noun) to describe vassals, unfree peasants under feudalism.


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## trance0

A very similar word exists in Slovene -* pod**ánik*. It has the same meaning as Slovak poddaný/poddaní.


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