Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/volstь

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *walˀstís, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wolh₁dʰh₁-ti-s, from *h₂welh₁dʰh₁-, from *h₂welh₁- (“to rule”). Morphologically as if from *vold- (“to rule”) +‎ *-tь, from the root of one of the verbs *volsti, *voldati or *volděti all meaning "to rule".

Cognate with Latvian valsts (“state, realm”), Lithuanian valstybė.

Noun

*vȏlstь f

1. power, authority, rule

Declension

Declension of *vȏlstь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*vȏlstь	*vȏlsti	*vȏlsti
genitive	*volstí	*volstьjù, *volsťu*	*volstь̀jь
dative	*vȏlsti	*volstьmà	*vȏlstьmъ
accusative	*vȏlstь	*vȏlsti	*vȏlsti
instrumental	*volstьjǫ́	*volstьmà	*volstьmì
locative	*volstí	*volstьjù, *volsťu*	*vȏlstьxъ
vocative	*volsti	*vȏlsti	*vȏlsti

^* The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Derived terms

• *obolstь

Related terms

• *volsti, *volděti (to rule)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: волость (volostĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: волость (volostʹ)
      • Belarusian: во́ласць (vólascʹ, “county”) (obsolete)
      • Ukrainian: во́лость (vólostʹ, “county”) (obsolete)
    • Russian: во́лость (vólostʹ, “county”) (obsolete)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: власть (vlastĭ)

    Glagolitic script: ⰲⰾⰰⱄⱅⱐ (vlastĭ)

    • → Russian: власть (vlastʹ, “power, authority”)
    • → Carpathian Rusyn: власть (vlastʹ, “power, authority”)
  • Bulgarian: власт (vlast)
  • Macedonian: власт (vlast)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: вла̑ст

    Latin script: vlȃst

  • Slovene: lȃst (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: vlast (“homeland”)
    • Czech: vlast
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): vlast
  • Old Polish: włość (“manor”)
    • Polish: włość (“manor”)
  • Slovak: vlasť (“homeland”)

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “во́лость”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 526