# all Slavic languages: *dê- = "do"?



## Gavril

Hello,

I read on another message board that there's a common Slavic root *_dê_- meaning "do" (and also, sometimes, "say"). Since my knowledge of Slavic is still deficient, I'm curious to know, what are the reflexes of *_dê-_ in the modern (or otherwise attested) Slavic languages, and which of these reflexes have the primary meaning "do" or "make"?

Thank you


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## YKYPEH

In Russian:

Делать - (v) do, make
Дело / деяние - (n) deed
Деятель - (n) "doer"


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian:

*delati* = to work, to make, to do
*delavec* / *delavka* = worker
*delo* = work, labor
*delovanje* = activity
*delovati* = to affect, to be active, to seem
*izdelati, izdelovati* = to make, to manufacture

...and many, many more.


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## itreius

TriglavNationalPark said:


> Slovenian:
> 
> *delati* = to work, to make, to do
> *delavec* / *delavka* = worker
> *delo* = work, labor
> *delovanje* = activity
> *delovati* = to affect, to be active, to seem
> *izdelati, izdelovati* = to make, to manufacture
> 
> ...and many, many more.



Do you happen to know whether _dejati_ is also a reflex of *dê- or if it's unrelated?


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## osemnais

*де*йствие - action
*де*ло - deed
*де*ен - active; energetic, vigorous, up and doing
добро*де*тел - virtue
зло*де*й - villain
*де*йствителен - actual
*де*йност - activity

the word *дея is no longer in use


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## osemnais

TriglavNationalPark said:


> Slovenian:
> 
> *delati* = to work, to make, to do
> *delavec* / *delavka* = worker
> *delo* = work, labor
> *delovanje* = activity
> *delovati* = to affect, to be active, to seem
> *izdelati, izdelovati* = to make, to manufacture
> 
> ...and many, many more.


isn't izdelati from del (part)?


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## Sobakus

osemnais said:


> isn't izdelati from del (part)?



That would be *izdeliti, to my knowledge. In Russian the stress is on the suffix as well.


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## TriglavNationalPark

@itreius and osemnais: I'll look it up in Snoj's etymological dictionary tomorrow and get back to you.


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## osemnais

Sobakus said:


> That would be *izdeliti, to my knowledge. In Russian the stress is on the suffix as well.



I'm asking because we also have the verb дялам, да издялам meaning 'to carve, cut' and to me it makes more sense to come from дял 'part' rather than from дело, *_dê_-


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## TriglavNationalPark

@itreius: According to Snoj's _Slovenski etimiloški slovar_, *dejati* does indeed come from the same Indo-European root but was already a separate word in Proto-Slavic. It derives from the meaning "to place a word."

@osemnais: Snoj lists *izdelati* / *izdelovati* as cognate of *delati*. Slovenian verbal cognates from *del* (= part) are based on the verb *deliti *(as in *razdeliti* = to share, to distribute).


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## bibax

I am afraid that you are mixing two verbs (and their derivatives) with different roots:

1) **dêl*-a-ti
2) **dê*-ja-ti

In Czech we have *díti** *< Old Czech dieti < *dê-ja-ti which is rarely used nowadays and means _to say_ (imperf.):

Pravdu díš. (You are saying true).


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## Gnoj

osemnais said:


> *де*йствие - action
> *де*ло - deed
> *де*ен - active; energetic, vigorous, up and doing
> добро*де*тел - virtue
> зло*де*й - villain
> *де*йствителен - actual
> *де*йност - activity
> 
> the word *дея is no longer in use



Also don't forget your "из*дел*ие" - product.


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## TriglavNationalPark

bibax said:


> I am afraid that you are mixing two verbs (and their derivatives) with different roots:
> 
> 1) **dêl*-a-ti
> 2) **dê*-ja-ti
> 
> In Czech we have *díti*< Old Czech dieti < *dê-ja-ti which is rarely used nowadays and means _to say_ (imperf.):
> 
> Pravdu díš. (You are saying true).



Right, but according to Snoj, both of these Slavic roots -- and they are indeed separate roots -- have the same _Indo-European_ root.


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## Gavril

TriglavNationalPark said:


> Right, but according to Snoj, both of these Slavic roots -- and they are indeed separate roots -- have the same _Indo-European_ root.



What's the origin of the _-l- _seen in almost all of these stems (_delati, delo _etc.), according to Snoj or other knowledge you might have?


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## TriglavNationalPark

Gavril said:


> What's the origin of the _-l- _seen in almost all of these stems (_delati, delo _etc.), according to Snoj or other knowledge you might have?



Good question, but I won't have an opportunity to check Snoj's book again until next week.


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## Sobakus

Gavril said:


> What's the origin of the _-l- _seen in almost all of these stems (_delati, delo _etc.), according to Snoj or other knowledge you might have?



According to Vasmer it's the suffix -lo-.


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## Gavril

Sobakus said:


> According to Vasmer it's the suffix -lo-.



Is this a suffix that appears in other verbal stems?

What meaning is the suffix thought to contribute?


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## DenisBiH

Gavril said:


> Is this a suffix that appears in other verbal stems?
> 
> What meaning is the suffix thought to contribute?



Some deverbal nouns (I hope that's the correct term) are formed with the -lo suffix, I believe. I may be wrong, but could the process have been:

*děti (verb) > dělo (noun) > děl(ov)ati (verb)


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## YKYPEH

I'm not sure what the circumflex over 'o' means in this case, but I've seen it being used for a nasal sound "l" or "n" which follows a vowel and "closes" it.


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## bibax

> Is this a suffix that appears in other verbal stems?


Denis is right, the deverbative suffix -lo forms the nouns (of neuter gender) from the verbs. Such nouns are called deverbativa (sing. deverbativum), at least in Latin and Czech.

Examples (in Czech):

bodlo from bůsti (*bod-ti), bodati = to stab, to jab;
jídlo from jísti (*j-êd-ti) = to eat;
sedlo (saddle) from seděti = to sit;
pometlo (broom) from mésti (*met-ti) = to broom;
peklo (hell) from péci (*pek-ti) = to bake;
and finally
dílo (Old Czech dielo) from díti (*dê-ti, *dê-ja-ti);

The verb *dêl-a-ti is probably derived from the noun *dêlo. However Václav Machek in his etymological dictionary suggests that the verb is related to Greek δράω (to act, to take action) and lithuanian darýti (to do, to make), Latvian darīt. In such case the IE root would be two-syllable: *derā- or *dērā-, and not *dhē-.


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## osemnais

> @osemnais: Snoj lists *izdelati* / *izdelovati* as cognate of *delati*. Slovenian verbal cognates from *del* (= part) are based on the verb *deliti *(as in *razdeliti* = to share, to distribute).


Now that I check, our verb OTOH comes from дял, as well as изделие. I forgot to mention недей(meaning don't), which also comes from *de-, and actually is the imperative of that verb itself (не дей).


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