# All Slavic languages: slovo



## TriglavNationalPark

*Split from here: please discuss here only "slovo".*



texpert said:


> Still a bit of etymological feedback on Slovenian *slovo* would certainly be welcome, whether on this thread or another.


 
I'll open a new thread on the Slovenian *slovo* when I get a chance to check my etymologcal dictionary.

In the meantime, here's a map showing what *slovo* means in various Slavic languages:

Slovo false friends map


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## trance0

Well, maybe I can be of assistance until Triglav finds his etymological dictionary. This is from SSKJ:

    slOvo -a s (o) zastar. (veraltet, obsolete)
1. beseda: spregovoril je z glasnimi slovi 
2. črka: vklesano slovo
Translation:
1. word: he spoke with loud words
2. letter: engraved letter


slovO -esa s (o e) 
1. pozdrav (...)
2. ekspr., v zvezi z od izraža prenehanje obstajanja česa: slovo od najine ljubezni (...)
3. nar. vzhodnoštajersko omejen, neumen človek: zakaj pa je prišlo to slovo k hiši


I am not going to translate the second meaning, as I`d mentioned it is about "farewell, leave-taking etc.".

P.S.: I have just thought of another word based on "slOvo" : "slovAr" = "dictionary". This word is still in active use in Slovene and its obvious origin is in the word "slOvo". It would probably be "besedAr" were it based on the more modern version of the word "slovo = beseda".


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## TriglavNationalPark

trance0 said:


> It would probably be "besedAr" were it based on the more modern version of the word "slovo = beseda".


 
Interestingly enough, *besedar* is listed in _Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika_ (SSKJ) as an archaic word for a linguist. Apparently, some Croatian dialects use *besedar* in place of the BCS *rječnik* (= dictionary). Those dialects, like Slovenian (and quite unlike standard BCS), use *beseda* to mean "word". An old Slovenian word for a dictionary is *besednik.*

When I _finally_ get my hands on that etymological dictionary, I'll check whether *slovar* is merely a 19th century borrowing from Russian (*словарь* = dictionary), as I suspect it might me, or whether its history in Slovenian is longer than that.


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## trance0

Well, I was only (wild) guessing with "besedAr"(dictionary, stress on the final syllable), but linguist is in fact "besEdar"(stress on the second syllable).  Now that you`ve mentioned BCS "rječnik", I remembered that "-nik" ending is in fact also a possibility in word formation(riba-ribnik, beseda-besednik).


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## TriglavNationalPark

As we say in Slovenian, "kdor čaka, dočaka"; I finally have  Marko Snoj's _Slovenski e__timološki slovar_ with me. 

According to the dictionary, *slovo*, when stressed on the initial syllable, still means "word" or "letter" in some Slovenian dialects, but this is how it explains the word's modern meaning in standard Slovenian ("farewell"):

_"Pomen 'pozdravljanje ob odhodu, lo__čitev, odhod' se je razvil iz 'beseda' prek vmesnega 'dovoljenje (za odhod)', ki je v sloven.  __še znan v 16. stol."

_Here's my translation:

_"Its meaning 'farewell, parting, leave-taking' developed from the meaning 'word' via the intermediary meaning 'permission (to depart)', which was still used in Slovenian in the 16th century."

_As I expected, *slovar* is merely a 19th century borrowing of the Russian *словарь.


*


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## sokol

Fascinating. 

So if I understand this correctly, in Slovenian the word "slóvo = (modern: beseda) = word" was used something like "to >give word< = >give permission< to depart" which later developped (with change of accent and declension) into meaning "slovó = farewell"?

I hope I've got that right, I'm not completely sure about it.


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## TriglavNationalPark

sokol said:


> Fascinating.
> 
> So if I understand this correctly, in Slovenian the word "slóvo = (modern: beseda) = word" was used something like "to >give word< = >give permission< to depart" which later developped (with change of accent and declension) into meaning "slovó = farewell"?
> 
> I hope I've got that right, I'm not completely sure about it.



Yes, that's how I understand it as well. I vaguely remember reading that such departure permissions were common in medieval communities, but I can't remember the source.

BTW, *slovó *(=farewell), despite the different meaning, retains the old plural form (*slovesa*) and declension pattern of *slóvo *(=word).

The Freising Manuscripts*, after all, open with the line: "GLAGOLITE PO NAZ REDKA *ZLOUEZA*", meaning "Speak (repeat) these few words after us."

* The oldest surviving document in the Slovenian language (circa 9th century).


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## texpert

TriglavNationalPark said:


> As we say in Slovenian, "kdor čaka, dočaka"; I finally have Marko Snoj's _Slovenski e__timološki slovar_ with me.


 
_Kdo čeká, ten se dočká_, indeed. 

Interesting. One almost feels like going through the looking glass. It _could_ have taken the same path back home, but somehow it took a different turn in the end. 

How about present use of "giving one's word"? Is there such a phrase? I somehow cannot picture you saying _davati besedu_.


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## TriglavNationalPark

texpert said:


> How about present use of "giving one's word"? Is there such a phrase? I somehow cannot picture you saying _davati besedu_.



Yes, it's *dati (komu) besedo. *(BTW, *dajati* is the imperfective form; *davati *is BCS.)

EDIT: *dati (komu) besedo *has another, just as common, meaning: "to give someone the chance to speak". For instance:

*Voditelj oddaje mu ni dal besede.* = The host of the show didn't give him a chance to speak.


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## trance0

TriglavNationalPark said:


> * The oldest surviving document in the Slovenian language (circa 9th century).



It is in fact from the late 10th or early 11th century.


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## TriglavNationalPark

trance0 said:


> It is in fact from the late 10th or early 11th century.



You're right; I stand corrected. The original text, of which the Freising Manuscripts are a copy, may be from the 9th century, hence my confusion.


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## J Comper

*Slovo, Slovník, Slovenčina (Slovenský jazyk) Sloven, Slovenka, Slovensko, Sloveni. *

*Slovania, Slovanských ľudí *a *Slovanské národy *je výraz pre všetkých ostatných Slovanov.

*Word, Dictionary, Slovak language, Slovak man, Slovak woman, Slovakia, Slovaks. *

*Slavs, Slavic people *and *Slavic peoples* is the expression for all other Slavs.


Word "Slovo" is home in Slovensko.


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## bibax

In Czech the word *slovo* (meaning _word_) was originally an s-stem noun like tělo, kolo, nebo (plur. slovesa, tělesa, kolesa, nebesa). Later the declension of these words was regularized (plur. slova, těla, kola, but still nebesa).

In the 19th century the linguists (purists) artificially introduced new words:

*sloveso* (plur. slovesa) = verb (e.g. dokonavé sloveso = perfective verb);
těleso (plur. tělesa) = body in physics/geometry (e.g. nebeské těleso = heavenly body; těleso ponořené do kapaliny = body submerged in liquid);
koleso (plur. kolesa) = paddle wheel (e.g. kolesa parníku = paddle wheels of a steamboat);

adj.

*slovní, -slovný* ... *slovesný* (e.g. slovesný tvar = verbal form);
tělní, tělový, tělnatý ... tělesný, tělesový (e.g. tělesová úhlopříčka = body diagonal);
kolový (e.g. kolový traktor = wheel tractor) ... kolesový (e.g. kolesový parník = paddle wheel steamboat);
-nební, -nebný ... nebeský;

*slovník*, arch. *slovař* = dictionary;
arch. *slovesník* = belletrist;
arch. *tlumač* = 1. interpreter (now *tlumočník*) 2. dictionary (e.g. Česko-anglický tlumač pro Čechy americké, Chicago 1907);

*řečník* = public speaker, rhetorician < *řeč* = speech (in both meanings);


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## veles

In Croatian according to _Hrvatski jezični portal_ (and my own experience as a native speaker) word *slovo* has two different meanings: a letter of the alphabet and a speech. 
There is also a verb _sloviti _(to talk) that is archaic today - it has managed to survive only in some phrases such as for example _slovio je za stručnjaka_ (he was considered to be expert).


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## J Comper

When the Creator created people and gave them a language  "Slovo" and then knowledge which is called "VEDA" (which means "Science" in primitive English) a lot happened. To find out the truth, you must find the language from which science "VEDA" was recorded into and then subsequently translated into Sanskrit afterwards.
There is one language where the word "VEDA" doesn't need to be translated and is used like the root word for other words related to the word "VEDA".


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## Panceltic

J Comper said:


> When the Creator created people and gave them a language  "Slovo" and then knowledge which is called "VEDA" (which means "Science" in primitive English) a lot happened. To find out the truth, you must find the language from which science "VEDA" was recorded into and then subsequently translated into Sanskrit afterwards.
> There is one language where the word "VEDA" doesn't need to be translated and is used like the root word for other words related to the word "VEDA".



Oh I didn't know my language was the first in the world, thanks for that. And it somehow got translated to Sanskrit? How?


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