سست

سست

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [script needed] (swst' /sust/, “slack, lazy”), Manichaean Middle Persian 𐫘𐫇𐫘𐫤‎‎ (sust, “soft, slack, lax”). Cognate with Northern Kurdish sist (“weak, powerless, limp; loose, slipshod, slack”), Talysh сыс (sıs, “weak”), Sanglechi sust (“lazy”), Khwarezmian [script needed] (swst, “low, contemptible”). Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Iranian *θrusta- (“pressed forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to push, thrust”), whence Old English þrēotan (“to weary”).

Compare Old Armenian շուշտ (šušt), possibly an Iranian borrowing.

Adjective

سست • (sost) (comparative سست‌تر‎, superlative سست‌ترین‎)

1. (dated, literary) feeble, weak
2. (dated, literary) soft (giving way under pressure)
3. (dated, literary) lazy, idle
4. (obsolete) slow
5. (literary) relaxed, negligent, phlegmatic

Derived terms

• سست‌عنصر‎ (sost-onsor)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: süst
• → Armenian: սուստ (sust)
• → Georgian: სუსტი (susṭi)
• → Hindustani:
  • Hindi: सुस्त (sust)
  • Urdu: سست‎‎ (sust)
• → Middle Armenian: սուստկալ (sustkal)
• → Ottoman Turkish: سست‎ (süst)

Further reading

• Bailey, H. W. (1979) Dictionary of Khotan Saka, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University press, page 467
• Cabolov, R. L. (2010) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kurdskovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Kurdish Language] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Russian Academy Press Vostochnaya Literatura, page 267
• Morgenstierne, Georg (1938) Iranian Pamir Languages (Yidgha-Munji, Sanglechi-Ishkashmi and Wakhi) (Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages), volume II, Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., page 412a
• Nalbandyan, G. M. (1987), “سست”, in Parskeren-hayeren baṙaran [Persian–Armenian Dictionary], Yerevan: Luys, page 347a
• Palatecʿi, Gēorg Dpir (1829), “սիւսթ”, in Baṙaran Parskerēn əst kargi haykakan aybubenicʿ [Persian Dictionary in the Order of the Armenian Alphabet] (in Armenian), Constantinople: Boghos Arabian Press, page 507b
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 78
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892), “سست”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul, page 681