верста
Russian
Etymology
Inherited from Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta), from Proto-Slavic *vьrsta. Cognate with Ukrainian верства́ (verstvá), Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta, “age, couple, age-mate, verst (measure of length)”), Old Church Slavonic врьста (vrĭsta, “age”), Bulgarian връст (vrǎst, “age”), Serbo-Croatian вр́ста (“row, type”), Slovene vŕsta (“row, string, type, age”) (tonal orthography), vȓst (“row, type”) (tonal orthography), Czech vrstva (“layer”), Slovak vrstva, Polish warstwa (“row, layer”), Upper Sorbian woršta. Cognate with Russian верте́ть (vertétʹ, “to turn”); per Vasmer, the initial meaning was "turning over of a plow". Further cognate with Lithuanian var̃stas (“verst, distance plowed at one time in one direction”) (also varsnà), participial vir̃stas, Oscan vorsus (“measure of arable land”, literally “turning over”), Latin versus (earlier vorsus), Sanskrit वृत्त (vṛttá, “round, twisted”). Compare све́рстник (svérstnik, “coeval, age-mate”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [vʲɪrˈsta]
Audio (file)
Noun
верста́ • (verstá) f inan (genitive версты́, nominative plural вёрсты, genitive plural вёрст, related adjective верстово́й)
- (dated) verst (unit of length equal to 1,066.8 m), used in many expressions
- Заверсту́ ви́дно (слы́шно, па́хнет) ― Za verstú vídno (slýšno, páxnet) ― One can see (hear, smell) (from) a mile away
- обходи́ть за версту́ (idiom) ― obxodítʹ za verstú ― avoid like the plague
- (dated) verst-post, milepost, milestone
- Synonym: верстово́й столб (verstovój stolb)
- (colloquial) kilometre
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | верста́ verstá | вёрсты vjórsty |
| genitive | версты́ verstý | вёрст vjórst |
| dative | версте́ versté | вёрстам vjórstam |
| accusative | версту́ verstú | вёрсты vjórsty |
| instrumental | версто́й, версто́ю verstój, verstóju | вёрстами vjórstami |
| prepositional | версте́ versté | вёрстах vjórstax |
Derived terms
- верстово́й (verstovój)
- верстоме́р (verstomér)
- многовёрстный (mnogovjórstnyj)
- све́рстник (svérstnik)
Related terms
- верста́ть impf (verstátʹ), сверста́ть pf (sverstátʹ)
- навёрстывать impf (navjórstyvatʹ), наверста́ть pf (naverstátʹ)
- верста́льщик m (verstálʹščik)
- вёрстка f (vjórstka)
Descendants
- → Armenian: վերստ (verst)
References
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “верста”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress