степъ

Old Ruthenian

степъ (sense 1)

Alternative forms

• степь (stepʹ)

Etymology

First attested in the the 17th century, and also in 1690. Origin uncertain. Compare Russian степь (stepʹ), which is from Middle Russian степь (stepʹ), attested in 1618.

• From Old East Slavic *сътепь (*sŭtepĭ), from Proto-Slavic *sъtepь (“knock down”), from *sъ(n) + *teti (“to beat”) + *-ь with the original meaning “place with felled trees (meadow, glade, clearing)” or “trampled place”.

Noun

степъ • (step) m

2. steppe (flat grassy plain)

   степъ дикїй ― step dikij ― wild steppe

4. land area (mainly for haymaking)

Derived terms

adjectives

• степный (stepnyj)
• степовый (stepovyj)

 

nouns

• степокъ m (stepok)

 

Descendants

• Ukrainian: степ (step); сте́па f (stépa) (dialectal)
  • → Belarusian: стэп (step); сцеп (scjep), сьцеп (sʹcjep), степ (stjep) (dialectal)
  • → Czech: step
  • → Polish: step
  • →? Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: сте̏па f

    Latin script: stȅpa f

    • →? Macedonian: степа f (stepa)
  • → Slovak: step
  • →? Slovene: stẹ́pa f
  • →? Carpathian Rusyn: степ (step)

References

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (2006), “степ”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volume 5 (Р – Т), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, →ISBN, page 409
• Tsykhun, G. A., editor (2008), “стэп”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), volumes 12 (свабо́да – стэ́сам), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka, →ISBN, page 365
• Tsykhun, G. A., editor (2010), “сцеп”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), volumes 13 (су- – трапка́ч), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka, →ISBN, page 93
• Preobrazhensky, A. G. (1914–1916) “степь”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 2 (П – С), numbers 10–14, Moscow: G. Lissner & D. Sobko Publishing House, page 382
• Vasmer, Max (1972) “степь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 3 (Муза – Сят), Moscow: Progress, page 755
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “степь”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 201
• Tsyhanenko, H. P. (1989) “степь”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 2nd edition, Kyiv: Radjanska shkola, →ISBN, page 403
• Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010) “степь”, in Этимологический словарь современного русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Contemporary Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 2: (Начать – Я), Moscow: Flinta; Nauka, →ISBN, page 379
• Králik, Ľubor (2016) “step”, in Stručný etymologický slovník slovenčiny [Concise Etymological Dictionary of Slovak] (in Slovak), Bratislava: VEDA; JÚĽŠ SAV, →ISBN, page 555
• Rejzek, Jiří (2001) “step”, in Český etymologický slovník [Czech Etymological Dictionary] (in Czech), 1st edition, Voznice: LEDA, →ISBN, page 601
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “stẹ́pa”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si
• Skok, Petar (1973) “stepa”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 3 (poni² – Ž), Zagreb: JAZU, page 333

Further reading

• Dydyk-Meush, H. M., Slobodzianyk, O. Z. (2015) “степъ (степь)”, in Українські краєвиди XVI–XVIII ст. [Ukrainian landscapes of 16ᵗʰ–18ᵗʰ cc.] (in Ukrainian), Lviv: Kolo, →ISBN, page 312