Re: [tied] Russian -tsvo

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 3:59 PM
Subject: [tied] Russian -tsvo


> A thread I was involved in on a non-lingustic group (of no
> consequence, but
> http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/crossword-games-pro/message/61938
> and previous postings with similar subject lines, if anyone is
> curious) concerns the word 'zemstvo' "rural council".
> This got me to wondering about the etymology of the suffix
> '-tsvo',

-stvo ;-)

> which "with a primarily abstract meaning, often designates
> not only the abstract idea itself but also the group of people
> associated with it (Townsend "Russsian Word-Formation")". I can't
> find anything in references handy -- can someone enlighten me?
> Russian has a good number of suffixes to form derivative words (more
> than most I.-E. languages?). Can any generalizations be made as to
> their origin?
> Dan Milton

All Slavic languages are rich in suffixes, and, I believe, PIE was once, as
well. Anyway, the Slavic suffix -stvo seems to be an enhanced version of IE
*-two-, which is attested, among others, in Sanskrit and in Old Prussian,
and which forms various abstracts, including infinitives and numerals
(Slavic pe,tI '5' < *penkW-ti-s, s^estI '6' < *ksweks-ti-s, deve,tI '9' <
*newm.-ti-s, dese,tI '10' < *dek^m-ti-s are collectives used instead of
"true" numerals which have not survived in Slavic).

There is a similarity between *-two- and *-ti- suffixes. The former was used
for infinitives in Old Prussian, the latter for infinitives in Slavic (both
preserved in dative). The -s- versions of both can be seen as -stvo (neuter)
and -stI (feminine) in Slavic to form nomina essendi and nomina collectiva,
especially (but not necessarily) in yet more enhanced versions -ostvo
and -ostI. These -s- formations may be IE, cf. Hittite dalugasti- = Slavic
dl.gostI 'length', from dl.gU 'long'.

In Polish, -os'c' (< -ostI) forms deadjectival nomina essendi semi-regularly
(ex. ma,dry 'wise' - ma,dros'c' 'wisdom', wolny 'free' - wolnos'c' 'freedom'
etc.), i.e. with unnumerous exceptions (like dobry 'good' - dobroc'
'goodness' with -oc' < -otI < *-o-ti- without -s-). Sometimes -stwo is used
instead, with the same function (like in l/akomy 'greedy' - l/akomstwo
'greediness', leniwy 'lazy' - lenistwo 'laziness' etc., more examples are
barbarzyn'stwo 'barbarianism', chamstwo 'boorishness' and so on, motivated
by both a substantive and an adjective: barbarzyn'ca 'a barbarian',
barbarzyn'ski 'barbarian' (adj.), cham 'boor', chamski 'boorish'). The -ctwo
variant is the result of merging -stwo with certain final consonants (-k, -t
like in cwaniactwo 'cunning' - cwaniak 'deep file, sly dog, artful dodger').
Many -stwo (-ctwo) formations are clear nomina essendi denominativa, ex.
chuligan'stwo '(the) being a hooligan' - chuligan 'hooligan'.

A little different meaning can be observed in fryzjerstwo 'the profession of
a hairdresser' (fryzjer 'hairdresser'), lniarstwo 'branch of weaving of
products of flax' (len, genitive lnu 'flax', lniarz 'a person who
specializes in weaving of flax'). Note double meaning of such formations:
lniarstwo = 'being a "lniarz" ' and 'all which concerns the profession of
"lniarz" '. Further semantic development can be seen in kupiectwo from
kupiec 'merchant'. This word can mean 'being a merchant', 'all which
concerns merchants' ('all which belongs to merchants'), 'business, commerce,
trade' and 'tradespeople' ('all the merchants'). The last meaning is just a
collective from 'merchant'.

Similarly Kozactwo 'the total population of Cossacks' (Kozak = Cossack),
ziemian'stwo 'all the gentry' (so, rural people, not rural council like in
Russian; the Polish word has the additional -an- formant; ziemianin = landed
proprietor), pan'stwo '(all of) you' (to a group of men and women, polite);
cf. pan 'you' (masc. sg., polite), pani 'you' (sg. fem., polite).

Yet another specialized collective meaning of -(o)stwo is 'married couple',
like in wujostwo 'uncle and aunt' (wuj = uncle), profesorostwo (a professor
with his wife)', also pan'stwo 'married couple'. Yet another meaning of
pan'stwo is 'country, land, state' (with yet more complicated semantic
history, cf. Russian zemstvo!).

I think (even if not with full certainty) that the semantic evolution as
pictured above can be generalized in more languages (esp. in Slavic of
course). Anyway, the semantic shift "things related to..." >> "all people
with a given feature" (from nomina essendi to collectiva) is alive in modern
spoken Polish. For example, the term dziadostwo '1) trash, trashy things; 2)
poverty, beggary' has also the meaning '(all the) beggars, poor men', at
least in a colloquial use (not noted in dictionaries).

All the bibliography I could recommend is in Polish, unfortunately. And if
you want more examples for Polish word-formation, you can find them on my
private pages (http://www.aries.com.pl/grzegorzj/gram/iso/slowotw.html) but
you need a good Polish-English dictionary as examples are not translated
(but the explanations are).

Grzegorz J.



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