Re: bg. nvEsta

From: Abdullah Konushevci
Message: 20419
Date: 2003-03-27

Rather not from "bride" < neg. prefix "ne" and fem., but from the
superlative of the adjective *newo- + suffix -isto with meaning "the
newest one", as Trubeckoj treat it. In Albanian the semantic cognat
is reja "the new one".
Konushevci

From Buck's "Synonyms" again:
> ChSl. 'nevesta' "bride" < neg. prefix 'ne' and fem.
> of 'vestu' "known", hence the "unknown", that is, the newcomer in
> the husband's family. Generalized in Old Polish 'niewasta' to be
> the word for "woman" in general.
> Piotr, did Polish men regard all women as potential brides, or
> just find them impossible to really know?
> Dan