# All Slavic : Seasons



## Zeevdovtarnegolet

I have noticed that words for the seasons seem to have fewer cognates acrosS the Slavic languages than one might expect. Any ideas as to why this might be ? In Czech : spring jaro , summer le'to , fall podzim , winter zima


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: пролет, лято, есен, зима.
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian: prol(j)eće, l(j)eto, jesen, zima.
Russian: весна, лето, осень, зима.
(The traditional order of seasons as in post #1 is observed).


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian:

spring = *pomlad*
summer = *poletje*
fall = *jesen*
winter = *zima*


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## Azori

Slovak:

spring = *jar*
summer = *leto*
fall = *jeseň*
winter = *zima*


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## ilocas2

Zeevdovtarnegolet said:


> I have noticed that words for the seasons seem to have fewer cognates acrosS the Slavic languages than one might expect. Any ideas as to why this might be ? In Czech : spring jaro , summer le'to , fall podzim , winter zima


 
It's *léto*, not le'to


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## Zeevdovtarnegolet

ilocas2 said:


> It's *léto*, not le'to



I know. Somehow my american bell phone does not support czech diacritics... I wonder why


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## bibax

It seems that only *zima* is common.


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## TriglavNationalPark

bibax said:


> It seems that only *zima* is common.


 
*Leto* appears to be almost common as well, but it's a false friend in Slovenian (it only means "year", never "summer", except archaically).


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## Orlin

TriglavNationalPark said:


> *Leto* appears to be almost common as well, but it's a false friend in Slovenian (it only means "year", never "summer", except archaically).


 
With the exception of Czech, the words for "autumn" seem to be very similar in all the rest. Only "spring" seems to be very variable in the Slavic languages.


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## DenisBiH

Orlin said:


> With the exception of Czech, the words for "autumn" seem to be very similar in all the rest. Only "spring" seems to be very variable in the Slavic languages.




That is my impression too.


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## Orlin

An interesting thread for the etymology of "spring" in Slavic languages: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1834265.


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## robin74

Polish - wiosna / lato / jesień / zima



TriglavNationalPark said:


> *Leto* appears to be almost common as well, but it's a false friend in Slovenian (it only means "year", never "summer", except archaically).


In Polish, while "lato" (singular) means "summer", "lata" (plural) means "years".


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## Orlin

robin74 said:


> In Polish, while "lato" (singular) means "summer", "lata" (plural) means "years".


 
As far as I know, in Russian the genitive plural "лет" means "years" as in 5 лет, 30 лет or несколько лет.


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## DenisBiH

Orlin said:


> As far as I know, in Russian the genitive plural "лет" means "years" as in 5 лет, 30 лет or несколько лет.




According to HJP:



> _prasl._ i _stsl._ lěto: godina (_rus._ léto, _polj._ lato) ← _ie._ *leh1t- (_stir._ laithe: dan, _šved. dijal._ låding: proljeće)


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## Mantae

TriglavNationalPark said:


> *Leto* appears to be almost common as well, but it's a false friend in Slovenian (it only means "year", never "summer", except archaically).


Interestingly, in Bulgarian it's the other way round: лято means only summer, but лета (plural form) is an archaic word for years. It's still used sometimes in compound words, for example: летопис, which means chronicle.


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## Dehemelisgrijs

in Slavic mythology, Vesna (Весна) was the goddess of spring.


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## Ante Portas

Da dodam, za neznavene: crnogorski = proljeće, ljeto, jesen, zima. 
Što ne mijenja zaključak


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## knjigca

TriglavNationalPark said:


> *Leto* appears to be almost common as well, but it's a false friend in Slovenian (it only means "year", never "summer", except archaically).


In fact, "leto" is also present in the Slovenian word "poletje" ...


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## TriglavNationalPark

knjigca said:


> In fact, "leto" is also present in the Slovenian word "poletje" ...


 
Indeed, but it's also present in the BCS *proljeće* (= spring), while *zima* is present in the Czech *podzim* (= fall).


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## ilocas2

Upper Sorbian:

nalěćo, lěćo, nazyma, zyma

Silesian:

wjosna, lato, podźim, źima


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## Ottilie

Orlin said:


> As far as I know, in Russian the genitive plural "лет" means "years" as in 5 лет, 30 лет or несколько лет.



yes лет is not the genitive plural for год but for летa,, used with 5,6,7,8,9,10 .. 1000,26 and so on

Actually in Russian there is a word летa,(то же, что год ),but the word has an archaic use   Помощью Божией* в лето* от Рождества Христова 1380 одолел великий князь Димитрий Иоаннович ....

but whose genitive plural is лет,and that is the form they use in counting years with 5,6,7,8,9 or 0

летa is also the plural for summer


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## maraintranslation

Zeevdovtarnegolet said:


> I have noticed that words for the seasons seem to have fewer cognates acrosS the Slavic languages than one might expect. Any ideas as to why this might be ? In Czech : spring jaro , summer le'to , fall podzim , winter zima


 

 fall= American English
 autumn= England& Wales English


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## maraintranslation

Orlin said:


> As far as I know, in Russian the genitive plural "лет" means "years" as in 5 лет, 30 лет or несколько лет.


  Yes, it is


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## Orlin

maraintranslation said:


> fall= American English
> autumn= England& Wales English


 
Здравствуйте!
Конечно, некоторым это полезная информация, но также оффтопик здесь, потому что не имеет отношения к славянским языкам (это было бы реплика на English Only).


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## maraintranslation

Orlin said:


> Здравствуйте!
> Конечно, некоторым это полезная информация, но также оффтопик здесь, потому что не имеет отношения к славянским языкам (это было бы реплика на English Only).


 
сорри конечно, просто в глаза " бросилось "


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