LIETUVIŲ KALBOS LEKSIKOS RAIDA LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

LITH. vāsara = SL. vesnā

(On the names for “spring” in the Baltic and Slavic languages)

R. EKERTAS

Lith. vāsara, Latv. vasara “summer” and Slav. vesnā “spring” are quite justifiably associated, despite certain differences in form and meaning between these East Baltic and Slavic words. H. Pedersen (K Z, XXXII, 246) and K. Brugmann (Grdr., II, I, 160) already discerned in these words an alternation of the old r- and n- stems, while later studies, especially those of E. Benveniste (Origines de la formation des noms en indoeuropéen, Paris, 1935) and F. Specht (Der Ursprung der indogermanischen Deklination, Göttingen, 1944), confirmed that such alternation is characteristic of many words belonging to the oldest layer of Indo-European vocabulary, for example, names for internal organs, seasons, and the like.

Here we encounter a Proto-Indo-European heteroclitic stem, reconstructed by scholars in the proto-forms *ueser- / *uesn- (cf. Brugmann, op. cit.; further IF, III, 329, 351; Boisacq, 210; Vondrak, Vgl. Gr. I², 527), or *ųes-r-t / *ųes-n-es (Petersson, Stud., 3; moreover, the -t- following -r- or -es- following -n- is not required in all heteroclitic forms, so Petersson’s reconstruction is more reliable as the old Indo-European name for “spring”), and *uesr- / *ues-n-es (Machek, Et. sl., 562).

In the work cited above, E. Benveniste¹ explains rather convincingly the various forms containing -r-, discerning in them different ablaut grades: moreover, the lengthened grade of the root vowel is generally matched by the zero grade of the extension (Erweiterung) (Latin vēr < *ųes-r-), and vice versa². The fact that the extension -er- often has the zero grade *r̥ instead of the expected -r- (Greek ἔαρ < *ųēs-r-), in E. Benveniste’s view, is conditioned by the nature of the sonorant consonant (liquid).

The -r- stem had already been generalized in the classical languages mentioned above; cf. Latin vēr, vēris “spring,” Doric Greek Fᾶρ, Ionic ἔαρ, ἦρος, ἦρι “spring,” as well as Old Indic vasar-, vāsara- “morning,” vasar “early”; Avestan vaŋri (= vahri) “in spring”; Old Persian vāhara-, Persian bahar “spring”; Armenian garun (*ųesr- according to E. Benveniste,

¹ Origines... (here and below cited according to the Russian translation Э. Бенвенист, Индоевропейское именное словообразование, М., 1955, pp. 49–50; abbreviated: И.-е. им. сло-вообр.).

² In the notes to the translation of E. Benveniste’s book (И.-е. им. словообр., p. 244, note 13), V. Gornung says that he considers *ųs-er- to be a zero grade, apparently preserved in Latin serēnus “clear (of the sky)” < *ųs-er-es-no-s and perhaps in Greek ξηρός (Attic ξηρός) < *σερός < *Fσερ-ος “dry”.

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op. cit., 40); cf. Old Irish fär “East,” Irish errach, Neo-Irish earrach (*wesr-āk with loss of w- due to word-boundary reasons; cf. H. Pedersen, Vgl. Gr., I, 82, 435), and finally Lithuanian vāsara, vāsarā, Latvian vasara “summer”.

Meanwhile, the n-stem is found in Old Indian vasantas “spring” (with an n-extension), Old Welsh guianmuin “in spring” < *vesanteino, Neo-Welsh qwanwyn, Cornish guaintoin “spring,” and, perhaps, Old Irish fáinne (an lae) “to be occupied (of the day)” (cf. H. Pedersen, Vgl. Gr., II, 106, § 461), as well as Proto-Slavic *vesnā, attested by Old Church Slavonic весна, Russian весна́, Polish wiosna “spring.” In one article, we noted³ that it is uncharacteristic of the Slavic languages to generalize the -r-stem of heteroclitic forms, whereas the East Baltic languages differ from the Slavic languages in this respect.

Although Lithuanian vāsara, vāsarā, Latvian vasara, and Slavic vesná are quite correctly assigned to the group of words regarded as continuations of Indo-European heteroclitics, this by no means eliminates the phonetic or semantic uncertainties surrounding the words in those two language branches.

In this connection, in our view, the following questions arise: 1) how is the East Baltic root extension -ar- to be explained; 2) what is the relation between the East Baltic root vowel -a- and the Slavic -e-; 3) how is the East Baltic meaning “summer” to be explained, given that in other Indo-European languages, including Slavic, these words mean “spring”?

In this article, we shall try to answer these questions, connecting them also with certain problems concerning the distribution of the Slavic protoform.

I

I. As already mentioned, the root extension (Erweiterung) of heteroclitic protoforms could have various ablaut grades, which, as E. Benveniste demonstrated, were dependent in the proto-language on root ablaut. Cf., for example, *-ēr- / *-r- and *-r- in forms such as Old Indian vasar- / Greek ἔαρ (< *u̯esr), Latin vēr (< *u̯esr-), or *-ōr- / *-r-, *-r- / *-n- in forms such as Greek ὕδωρ “water” / ὑδρία (< *udr-) “water jar” / gen. sing. ὕδατος (< *udn̥-) “water.”

However, the Indo-European proto-language word for “spring” appears to have had only an e-grade extension; cf. the Latin serēnus cited by V. Gornung (< *u̯es-er-es-no-s⁴. What, then, is the relation between Lithuanian and Latvian -ar- and Indo-European *-er-? We believe that *-er- is primary and that Lithuanian and Latvian -ar- developed from *-er-. This can be demonstrated in several ways.

1. In Lithuanian, alternation between -e- and -a occurs in many words not only at the beginning of a word (cf. standard Lithuanian aš “I” and dialectal Lithuanian eš “I”; standard Lithuanian ašutai “horsehair” and dialectal Lithuanian ešutai “same,” etc.), but also within words: alongside Lithuanian ašara “tear” there is also the form ašerā⁵, cited by J. Otrębski (Gramatyka języka litewskiego, vol. I, Warszawa

³ Cf. R. Eckert, Reste indoeuropäischer heteroklitischer Nominalstämme im Slawischen und Baltischen, “Zeitschrift für Slavistik,” Berlin, 1963, no. 6, pp. 878, 883, and 890–891.

⁴ P. Skardžius, too (LKŽD, 50, 562), regards Lithuanian vāsara (for other variants, see below), deriving it from *veser-ā, as an old heteroclitic stem. Cf. also J. Endzelīns, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, Vilnius, 1957, pp. 17, 83.

⁵ This word, too, is a relic of an Indo-European heteroclitic stem; cf. Eckert, op. cit., p. 888. Alongside Lithuanian vėdaras “entrails, sausage stomach” and Latvian vēdars (Būga, KS, 239), there is a variant with -er- (Lithuanian vėderas “same”), corresponding to Latvian vēders “belly,” Prussian weders “belly” (Voc. 122), “stomach” (Voc. 132) (see Fraenkel, LEW, 553). Here we again encounter continuants of Indo-European heteroclisis: Lithuanian vėdaras, vėderas alternate with Lithuanian paūdrė “human lower abdomen, pig’s omentum,” paūdrōni “to develop an increasingly larger udder (of pigs and female dogs),” and Lithuanian ūdrōti “to be pregnant.” The entire word group belongs to the Indo-European word for “udder,” which has -r-, -n-, and -men- stems—

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wa, 1958, p. 215-216), kuri yra tos pat rūšies, kaip ir minėti pavyzdžiai. Svarbi yra J. Otremskio pastaba, kad dabartinės lietuvių literatūrinės kalbos žodžius su -a- atitinka senųjų raštų ir tarmių formos su -e-.

2. In “The Word Formation of the Lithuanian Language” (LKŽD, 303), P. Skardžius describes more precisely the conditions under which the process that concerns us took place. He says that he believes -a- before (emphasis ours. – R.E.) -r- in some derivatives most likely derives from an older -e-. He supports his view with examples such as Lithuanian laidaras “pen, enclosure for livestock, cattle yard”⁶; laideris “manure pit by the farmstead”; stągaras “dry, withered, desiccated stalk”: stegerýš “stalk; stem (of a feather),” and so on. In the same place he gives Lithuanian vãsara and Samogitian vasẽris, pavãsėris. These two latter examples are very important in deciding the question raised above. Thus, it can already be established that alongside standard Lithuanian vãsara or vasarà (with -ar-!) there are dialect forms with -er-: Samogitian vasẽris and pavãsėris (Kvedarna, Salantai; see Skardžius, APh, VII, Kaunas, 1938, p. 41). E. Hofmanas also gives Samogitian vaseris, meaning “February,” citing Valančius and Baranauskas, as well as Vieversis (“Auszra,” I, 137) (K Z, 60, p. 71).

3. Forms with -er- can also be found in old texts. In S. Chylinski’s Bible translation, in the Gospels of Luke and Mark, the form wafera occurs, whereas in the Gospel of Matthew, at the same place, there is wafara⁷. Here are quotations from “Biblia litewska Chylińskiego. Nowy Testament,” vol. II, Poznań, 1958, edited by Č. Kudzinowski and J. Otremski:

a) p. 139(75): Gospel of Luke, XXI, 30:

Kad jau [progſta, ó (tev) regite, patis tey iß ſawe žynote, jog [jau ira arti waſera⁸.

b) p. 89 (46): Gospel of Mark, XIII, 28:

O mokikites iß figos medžia to pryliginima, kad bakos jo atſijaūnina, ir lapey [p<r>ogſta, žynote jog waſera arti ira.

c) p. 51(27): Gospel of Matthew, XXIV, 32:

O [to pryliginima mokikites¹ nog figos medžia, kad [pradeſt jo βaka! [progſt, ir lapey taydzias, numanot jog [arti waſara ira¹.

Old Lithuanian vasera “summer” is phonetically related to Lithuanian vãsara, vasarà “summer” in the same way as Lithuanian Samogitian vasẽris, pavãsėris is related to standard Lithuanian vasãris “February,” pavãsa-ris “spring.” The old written monument and the Samogitian dialect have preserved the variant with -er-. It should also be noted that Chylinski was connected with the Samogitians (his stepmother came from the Samogitian noble Minvydas family¹⁰).

change. Cf. Russian бы́мя < Proto-Slavic *y̆mę < *ūdh-men-; for this, see Eckert, op. cit., 885–886, 888. Semantically, Czech zvýmnati < *z-vymenati is very similar to Lithuanian paũdoti; it is used in the sense “swelling, engorgement of the udder (of a cow) after calving” (see Machek, Et. sl., 578). Thus, besides Lithuanian vãsara, which, as will become clear later, is to be derived from *veser-a, we also have forms such as Lithuanian ãšara: ašera and vėdaras: vėderas, and Latvian vēdars: vēders, which originated from a heteroclitic stem in Proto-Indo-European.

⁶ See Fraenkel, LEW, 330, where only forms with -aras are given.

⁷ The corresponding passage is absent from the Gospel of John.

⁸ The words marked with parentheses () have been restored by the editors (p. 429) to their original order: wafera jau ira arti.

⁹ Cf. Biblia litewska, p. 427, in the original word order: wafara ira arti.

¹⁰ Cf. St. Kot, Chylinski’s lithuanian Bible; origin and historical background, “Biblia litewska,” II, p. XLV.

10. Užsak. Nr. 174

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It is noteworthy that in the Aukštaitian written monument, M. Daukša’s “Postil,” which appeared half a century earlier, the cited biblical passage has waſara; cf. Weizdek ant’ medžio figų ir ant vijų medžių; kad’ jau ſprogſta žinotė jog jau arti yra wâſara (Lukopiup 21, kâpit: 25; Daukša’s “Postil,” pp. 12–13).

Both old Lithuanian writings and dialects show that forms with -er- must be regarded as older, primary, whereas -ar- in the words Lithuanian vasara, vasarà, and, analogously, Latvian vaſara – are secondary, having arisen because -e- before -r- shifts to -a-¹¹.

II. Regarding the origin of the root -a- in the Lithuanian forms vâsara, vasarà, we likewise adopt P. Skardžius’s view (see On Vowel Assimilation, APh, VII, 1938, p. 41): from the original *vesera came *veseris and *paveseris, and subsequently, through progressive assimilation, *paveseris became pavaseris, prompting the form *veseris likewise to become vaseris. Finally, the original *vesera also changed in the same way into vasara. P. Skardžius also takes into account that vasara could have developed from *vesera through the intermediate stage *vesara, while the derivative vasaris could have become vaseris in the Samogitian dialect under the influence of words with the suffix -eris. In our opinion, P. Skardžius quite rightly considers this latter possibility less reliable, since it is difficult to explain the origin of the root -a- in the old written form vasera by regressive vowel assimilation. We can likewise agree with P. Skardžius’s view that this assimilatory phenomenon is not ancient (op. cit., p. 40). Thus, Lithuanian vâsara or vasarà and its Latvian counterpart vasara reflect the original sound structure only in part and are much more phonetically altered than Slavic vesná.

III. It must be stated as a fact that the words in the East Baltic languages have also changed semantically, whereas Slavic vesná, by contrast, has preserved its original meaning. Cf. Old Lithuanian wásaru “aestas” (Pirm. liet. k. gr., p. 96); Lithuanian vâsara “the warmest season of the year (in June, July, and August)” (DLKŽ, p. 921); “Sommer” (Senn, Handb. II, 273) and the Aukštaitian variant vasarà (Явнис, Грамматика, 95)¹², waſara,-ôs “der Sommer” (Mielcke, 318); also Latvian vasara “Sommer” (Bielenstein, Die lett. Spr., 263; Mühlenb.-Endz., IV, 484) and Proto-Slavic *vesná (Old Church Slavonic весна “Frühling,” Polish wiosna, Russian весна “Frühling”). In most Indo-European languages that have preserved this word, it retains the old meaning “spring” (see above).

In the East Baltic languages, this word, used in other languages with the meaning “Frühling,” has the meaning “Sommer,” while the name for spring is supplied by its derivative: Lithuanian pavâsaris m. “Frühling,” Latvian pavasaris m. “the same,” pàusaris (<pavasaris, see Endzelynas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, p. 20), pavasara f. “Frühling” (see BSlW, 356). These Lithuanian and Latvian derivatives with the prefix pa- have approximately the same meaning as the Russian expressions под лето “toward summer,” that is, “still before summer,” and под вечер “toward evening.” Baltic languages also have other formations in which pa- has a locative rather than a temporal meaning; cf., for example, pasaulis “world,” scil. “place beneath the sun” = Russian “место под солнцем” (cf. J. Otrębski, Gr. jęz. lit. III, 335; Endzelynas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, 219). Thus, Lithuanian pavâsaris, Latvian pavasaris, pàusaris, pavasara mean “(time) approaching summer”¹³. In semantic structure these words correspond exactly to Czech podletí “period before summer (April, May)” (Machek, Et. sl.,

¹¹ Besides, it should not be forgotten that vowel assimilation may also have played a part here, to some extent (see below).

¹² K. Jaunius (Явнис, Грамматика, 95) notes that in Samogitia vasara is said instead of the Eastern Aukštaitian vasarà; however, K. Būga, in a footnote to the Russian translation of K. Jaunius’s grammar (loc. cit.), states that vâsara is also found in Dusetos. The literary standard is vâsara; cf. DLKŽ, 921 and A. Laigonaitė, Literatūrinės lietuvių kalbos kirčiavimas, Vilnius, 1959, p. 34.

¹³ For the meaning, also compare pavâsaris “Ansommer,” O. Schrader, Reallex, 258.

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265, 585); further compare Czech podzimek, podzim ‘autumn’, literally ‘(time) toward winter’ (Bs1W, 356; Machek, loc. cit.)¹⁴.

How did it happen that the name for spring inherited from the Indo-European proto-language acquired the meaning ‘summer’ in the East Baltic languages?

1. Here it should be noted that, not only in the Baltic languages but also in the Romance and Slavic languages, the old name for spring is transferred to designate the later warm season of the year (summer)¹⁵, while a new term is created to mean ‘spring’, with the sense ‘early summer, pre-summer, first summer’, derived from the already-used name for ‘summer’. Compare Romanian vară ‘summer’ and primăvară ‘spring’; Spanish verano ‘summer’ (alongside estío) and primavera ‘spring’ (Buck, Dict., 1013).

The meaning ‘summer’ is also found in Latin vēr, or, respectively, in colloquial Latin vērānum (tempus), whose continuants mean ‘springtime’: Old Neapolitan vera, Valencian ver ‘summer’, Corsican veramu, Logudorese b(e)ranu, Portuguese v(e)rão ‘summer’; the older meaning has been preserved in Logudorese beranile ‘land prepared in spring’ (see Meyer-Lübke, Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, 1935, p. 768).

In Latin we have vēr, meaning ‘spring’, and aestās, meaning ‘summer’; in Italian, already primavera ‘spring’ and estate ‘summer’; in Spanish, primavera ‘spring’ and verano, estío ‘summer’; and finally, in Romanian, primăvară ‘spring’ and vară ‘summer’. Here we can clearly see the various stages in which the old name for summer was displaced and replaced by a word meaning ‘spring’, while a new word meaning ‘spring’ was formed from the old name for ‘spring’¹⁶.

For the Slavic forms, see below.

2. On the other hand, it is entirely possible to suppose that, for certain reasons now difficult to understand, the East Baltic languages lost the old name for ‘summer’ and began using the name for ‘spring’ in its place. Prussian dagis ‘summer’ (Voc., 13 according to FEW, 85; compare below BS1W, 49) may perhaps preserve the old Baltic name for ‘summer’. The Prussian word corresponds to Lithuanian dãgas ‘burning, fire; glow, summer heat,’

¹⁴ We do not agree with A. Buck’s view (Dict., 1014) that Lithuanian pavãsaris should be understood as ‘a kind of summer, quasi-summer’, and that the first component of this derivative should be compared with a pa- such as Lithuanian pãmotė ‘stepmother’. Indeed, pa- can have the meaning ‘a kind of’; compare FEW, 520: pàbro-lis ‘friend who escorts the bridegroom honorably at the wedding, best man’, literally ‘kind of brother’. However, the meaning ‘a kind of summer’ for pavãsario is nonsensical. Moreover, E. Fraenkel (FEW, 538) notes that pa- in the Lithuanian words patėvis ‘stepfather’ and pãmotė ‘stepmother’ has a diminutive, pejorative meaning.

¹⁵ See Buck, Dict., 1014.

¹⁶ It should be noted that perhaps the oldest and most stable name across Indo-European language groups and languages is the Indo-European name for ‘winter’, whereas it is unlikely that a common Indo-European name for ‘summer’ can be established for the entire Indo-European linguistic area (except perhaps for a particular dialect region). By contrast, there is no common Indo-European term for designating ‘autumn’ at all. As we noted at the outset, the original name for ‘spring’ (*ḱueser-, *ḱuese(r)-/*uesn-) is securely attested; compare Schrader, Reallex, 258, 366–367, 390, 394–396, 782, 958.

Studies of words for the seasons in individual Indo-European languages show that there are relatively few names for ‘winter’ and, to some extent, ‘summer’, and that they are highly unstable, whereas there are many different names for ‘spring’ and ‘autumn’; compare, for example, the three names for ‘spring’ in German: Frühling, Frühjahr, Lenz. This phenomenon is explained in part by the fact that, because of their contrast, summer and winter constitute more general concepts in human consciousness than spring and autumn, which, as transitional seasons, are more specific in character (compare Merlo, Nomi romanzi delle stagioni e dei mesi, 1904, according to Quadri, Aufgaben, 57–60).

10*

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“Harvest” and dagà f. “harvest”¹⁷, as well as Gothic dags m. “day,” Sanskrit nidághá- m. “heat, summer” and dáha- m. “fire, heat.” In Prussian, the compound dagoaugis (Voc. 638 according to FEW, 85) “somirlatte,” i.e. “a shoot as it grows in one summer,” is also known. Its semantic structure corresponds exactly to Lithuanian vásaraugis “a one-year shoot,” Latvian vasaraudzis 1. “a summer shoot,” 2. “a foal that is only one summer old or was born in spring,” 3. “a weakling,” 4. f. vasaraudze and vasaraug’e “a young girl, adolescent” (Mühlenb.-Endz., IV, 484). This pan-Baltic word meaning “summer shoot” (pan-Baltic in the sense of having a unified semantic structure) supports our view that East Baltic vasara corresponds to West Baltic dagis and that the Prussian word is most likely the old pan-Baltic word for “summer.”

Two further arguments support this:

a) Lithuanian atúodogiai, atúoda(u)giai “summer rye” belongs to the same group as Prussian dagis, Lithuanian dágas, dègti “to burn”¹⁸. Within the large group of Lithuanian terms for “summer crops,” atúodagiai occupies a distinctive place; compare Lithuanian waſarojas,-jo “summer grain,” waſarini kweczei “summer wheat” (Mielcke, 318); vasariena = vasarojiena = vasarojas = vasarojus = vasarojis “spring harvest, harvest,” vasariniai rugiai = vasarūčiai “spring bread grain, spring rye,” “summer grain,” vasariniai kviečiai “summer wheat,” vasaris = vasarojemis = vasarojimis “spring-sown,” vasarojputė “harvest, reaping,” vasarójus “spring crops, spring-sown field,” vasarolaukis “spring-sown field” (Sereiskis, 1047; DLKŽ, 921). It is therefore entirely possible that the second component *dog- of Lithuanian atúodagiai (alternating with dá gas and dègti) preserves the original meaning “summer.”

b) Lithuanian degėsis “August” also belongs here (this form is given by Frenkelis EW, 85; Mielcke, 47: Dégėſis, fio). It was used to denote one of the summer months and, it seems to me, reflects the old meaning “summer.” See below concerning month names derived from names of seasons.

3. When examining the numerous Lithuanian and Latvian vasar- derivatives (cf. DLKŽ, 921; Sereiskis, 1047; Mühlenb.-Endz., IV, 484), two month names immediately catch the eye: first, Latvian wossoros menesis “June” (Słownik polskolacińsko-łotewski ułożony przez xiędza Jana Kurmina, Wilno, 1858, p. 20 according to E. Hofmann, KZ, 60, p. 72, note 1 and p. 74, note 1) and, second, Lithuanian vasãris “February.” For semantic reasons, the Latvian month name must be regarded as a late derivative of Latvian vasara “summer,” whereas the Lithuanian word appears to be of much older origin. Thus Old Lithuanian vasãris “February” is already found in D. Klein’s grammar (Pirm. liet. kalb. gr., 156), and later Milkaus (318) explains it as follows: Waſſaris Menū “January.” In present-day Lithuanian

¹⁷ For the relationship between the meanings “summer” and “harvest,” compare Old Russian ЖАТВА alongside Greek θερος in the Ostromir Gospel: НАKO БЛИЗЪ ГОСТЬ ЖАТВА отъ єгѡ єсть ѿ θερος (Остромирово евангелие 1056—57 года с приложением греческого текста евангелий и с грамматическими объяснениями, изданное А. Востоковым, Санктпетербург, 1843, p. 146, Math. XXIV, 32—33).

¹⁸ See A. Sabaliauskas, Dėl lietuvių atúoriečiai „vasariniai rugiai“ kilmės, „Lietuvos TSR Mokslų akademijos Darbai“, serija A, 1 (10), 1961, p. 101—103, where, comparing the Lithuanian atúoriečiai “summer rye,” whose origin has hitherto not been adequately explained, with the etymologically transparent atúodagiai (< *ato- or *atuo- + the root dog-, preserved with a different ablaut grade in Lithuanian dègti, degùtas, nudegùlys, dága, Prussian dagis), he derives it from *at(u)oriečiai (< *ato-, *atuo- + the root jor-, preserved in words such as Lithuanian joras, jas, jorė, Slavic *jarъ, *jara, *jaro). Given the identity of the semantic structures of the two terms, which, as A. Sabaliauskas argues, may be relics of the old lexicon, the etymology is convincing.

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vasāris means “the second month of the year” (DLKŽ, 921); “February; south wind, midday wind”; vasario mėnuo “the month of February” (Sereiskis, 1047). In his article “Kultur und Sprachgeist in den Monatsnamen” (KZ, 60, p. 71), E. Hofman also gives other variants of this Lithuanian word: 1. with the meaning “January”: vasaris, vasarius (Nesselmann, 55; Kurschat, I, 670; II, 491), vasarinis (formerly an adjective, as was likewise the compound adjective vasaris, which became a noun; cf. Skardžius, LKŽD, 313), and 2. with the meaning “February”: vasaris, vasario mėnuo, vasaris. There is nothing objectionable in E. Hofman’s view that the older meaning of the word vasaris is “January.” However, one cannot agree with E. Hofman’s view that the Lithuanian month name vasāris has nothing to do with the word vāsara (or vasarā) “summer,” because their meanings are supposedly too different. His association of vasario with vēšūs seems far more doubtful. Why could a season name not have been used to name a month? This is demonstrated by such examples as the Lithuanian degėsis already mentioned, and the old Baltic name for “summer” (Prussian dagis), as well as German Lenzmond and others. Moreover, Lithuanian vāsara (or vasarā) is the old Indo-European term for “spring,” and its meaning “summer” should be considered secondary. For this reason, Lithuanian vasāris, as an isolated term (a month name), may have preserved the old, original meaning to some extent. That vasāris and vāsara (or vasarā) are cognates formed from the same root is also shown by the Zemgalian vaseris and Old Lithuanian (Chylinskio) wasera.

II

In the Slavic languages, as already mentioned, the old Indo-European name for “spring” had generalized to an n-stem. Moreover, as in the Baltic languages, this noun was thematized with the stem-final vowel *-ā and therefore shifted to the feminine gender¹⁹.

Proto-Slavic *vesna is attested in the following forms: OCS весна, ἔαρ, ver. (Psalterium Sinaiticum — Macedonian; Psalterium Pogodinianum — Bulgarian; Psalterium e codice Lobkowicziano — Pragensi — Serbo-Croatian; БECBЛА Psalterium Bononiense — Bulgarian; Psalterium e codice Parisiensi — Serbo-Croatian; весна Parvemi arion Zacharianum (lectiones Veteris Test.) — Russian; Lobk. (see above); БECNBИ “Frühlings-“: ВРЪМА БECNBHOFE — Bulgarian; ПРЕЖЕ БECNBНЪХЪ РЕВЕННН “πρὸ τῆς ἐαρινῆς ἰσημερίας” Novocanon s. Methodii — Russian; Sl. j. st., Lieferung 4, 182); Church Slavonic весна and БЕСЬНА, Old Russian БЕСЬНА “Frühling” (Mikl., Lex., 61; Срезн, I, 247)²⁰; Russian весна, -ы, acc. sing. весну or весну, nom. pl. вёсны, gen. pl. вёсен “Frühling” (слов. русск. яз., II отд. 1, 382), Ukrainian весна, -ні (Ізюм., 55; Грінч. 1, 142), Belarusian вясна (Ластоўскі, 61)²¹; Polish wiosna, and in folk speech also wiesna “Früh-

¹⁹ Here we would like to note that distinguishing a suffix -na in Russian весна, as the authors of “Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка” N. Shansky, V. Ivanov, and T. Shanskaya do (p. 57), is unjustified from the standpoint of the word’s history. Its connection with the stem preserved in the word весёлый is also more than doubtful.

²⁰ Further compare medieval Russian весна (= весной) and веснованье (= весна), which R. James (Richard James) renders as follows: весно “spring”, Весно Баня “the spring” (Б. А. Ларин, Русско-английский словарь-дневник Ричарда Джемса 1618—1619, изд. Академии наук Литовской ССР и Ленинградского университета им. А. А. Жданова, Ленинград, 1959, p. 61, 195, 270).

²¹ Apparently, the word is purely Belarusian, as its derivatives indicate; compare Belarusian вясняк “warmer Südwind”, вяснянка “Lied, das bei Frühlingsbräuchen gesungen wird”, веснавіца “Sommer-

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ling” (Brückner, Sl. et., 623); Czech dialectal (northern Moravian, eastern Moravian, Lechitic, Silesian) vesno n. “Frühling” (Kott, IV, 640, H.-K., Et. sl., 413; Machek, Et. sl., 562). Machek thinks that the neuter gender arose here on the model of léto “Sommer”. From this Czech dialect word the verbs vesnati se, vesniti se and vyvesnati se, vyvesniti se “Frühling werden” were formed; as Kott notes (Kott, IV, 640, 1171), they are known in the environs of Ostrava. See also Machek, loc. cit. Czech literary (poetic) vesna was borrowed from Russian during the period of their revival (cf. Machek and H.-K., Et. sl., loc. cit.). In Slovene, vęsna, as Pleteršnik notes in his dictionary (II, 763), adding that it is found chiefly in the very most recent literature, is likewise borrowed from other Slavic languages (most likely Russian). The first thing that strikes one is the fact that Slovene has no derivatives of it. The Serbo-Croatian vęsna listed only in Fasmer’s REW, I, 192 ²² does not yet show that the word actually exists in Serbo-Croatian, all the more since it is absent from the best-known dictionaries (e.g. Karadžić’s). The word vesna attested in Slovak is also marked poetic by Isačenko (Sl. sl., II, 565), which probably indicates that it is used in the same contexts as Czech vesna. The word is unknown in the other Slavic languages. Apparently, we are dealing here with an inherited word, certainly very old, whose distribution in the Slavic languages is very limited. The word, current in folk speech, is found among the East Slavs (for its partly old derivatives in Ukrainian, see below), the Poles, and also the Moravians. It is hardly possible to say how much its range can be further extended on the basis of evidence from Old and Church Slavonic monuments, whose localization is extremely difficult and in some cases altogether impossible. The facts given above show that весна is attested in monuments from the Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, and Russian areas. Of course, the word in question could have been copied from one manuscript into another. This particular example once again confirms the need to distinguish precisely between Proto-Slavic (Urslavisch) and Common Slavic (Gemeinslavisch). The word *vesna is in fact Proto-Slavic, but not Common Slavic.

In light of what has been said, the question arises: what was “spring” called in those Slavic languages that did not preserve the name inherited from the Indo-European proto-language?

1. In part of the Slavic languages, the Proto-Slavic and Common Slavic term for “spring”, “sowing”, and “summer grain”, *jaro, *jarъ, *jara, *jaro, may have come to be used in place of the missing *vesna; compare, for example, Czech jaro, Old Czech jěri “Frühling”, Slovak jar “Frühling”, Bulgarian dialectal jară “Frühling”. It is also found in part in those Slavic languages that have *vesna; compare Russian and Old Russian яра “Frühling”, Ukrainian яро f. “Lenz”, Polish and Old Polish jarz “wiosna”, and also Polish jar m. with the same meaning. In comparing such semantic structures typologically, it is important that names for “spring sowing” and “summer grain” are derived from names for “spring”. The same phenomenon is also found in Lithuanian, given the original meaning of summer. Moreover, apparently not by chance, Anglo-Saxon gēar, corresponding to Old High German jār “Jahr” and Proto-Slavic *jarъ, *jarb, *jara, *jaro, can have the meaning “Frühling”, while Greek ὥρα, ὥρη means both “Jahreszeit, rechte, passende Zeit, Blütezeit” and “Frühling”; compare Iliad 2, 468: μυρίοι, ὅσσα τε φύλλα καὶ ἄνθεα γίγνεται ὥρη

“wheat, summer grain” and весень “the Old Belarusian name for April” (Дастоўскі, loc. cit.). The latter may be compared with Russian dialectal (from the Arkhangelsk region) весень “first flowers in the field, primrose, the beauty of annual plants” (Даль, 1, 187).

²² Czech vesna is also listed here, without noting that it is secondary.

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(quoted according to Leo Meyer, Handbuch der griechischen Etymologie, 1 Bd., Leip- zig, 1901, p. 653). It seems to me that Meyer wrongly considers the etymological connection of the Greek word with Sl. *jarъ to be unsuccessful.

2. Much more significant than the use of *jarъ, *jarь, *jara, *jaro was the “replacement” of the missing name for “spring” by formations with the prefixes *pro-, *pod-, *na-, *za-, *perd-, *prei-, *sъn-, made from Proto-Slavic *lěto “Sommer” and semantically similar in structure to derivatives of the type described in the first part of the article, such as Lithuanian pavasaris “Frühling als Vor-, An-, Erst- Sommer”. Such formations could also have arisen in languages that had the terms *jarъ and *vesna. They were eclipsed by more commonly used words, and eventually their lexical meaning also changed.

The material presented below is first arranged according to derivational structure. In addition, cases are indicated in which later formations have replaced *vesna.

a) *pro-lětьje;

Bulgarian пролет “Frühling,” пролетнина “Sommergetreide,” пролетница “Sommersaat, Sommerkorn” (Дювернуа, 1941; Бълг. тълк. р., p. 690); Bulgarian dialect (from Bulgarian dialects in the territory of the USSR) пролет = пролим “весна” (Я. К. Бунина, Словарь говора ольшанских болгар, „Статьи и материалы по болгарской диалектологии СССР“, вып. 5, Москва, 1954, p. 42); Serbo-Croatian пролеће, диалектологии СССР“, вып. 5, Москва, 1954, p. 42); Serbo-Croatian пролеће, prolitje “Frühling,” пролетница “Sommergetreide” (Karadžić, 626; Rječn., XII, 347; Толстой, 760); Serbo-Croatian dialectal пролеће “Frühling” (Елезовић, II, 142)²³; Old Russian, Old Church Slavonic ПРОЛѢТЬНЕ n “ver,” ПРОЛѢБЬ f. “ver,” ПРОЛѢТЬНЪ “Vernus” (Mikl., Lex., 699; Срезн., II, 1543); Russian пролетье n. “перволетье, весна, начало лета, июнь, пора до Петрова дня” (Даль, II, 280; III, 494); further compare “проводы весны, встреча пролетя” (Даль, I, 187); Ukrainian пролімок “Anfang des Sommers, Frühsommer” (Ukr.-dtsch. Wb., 915)²⁴. Words of the type *prolětьje form a single contiguous area (the East and South Slavic languages), which, however, does not include the peripheral dialects (Slovene and Belarusian). In Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian, пролет and пролеће are used as the principal names for “spring.”

b) *pod-lětьje:

Slovene podletje n. “Vorsommer” (Pleteršn., II, 85); Czech podletí “the time before summer, Vorsommer; April, May” (Kott, II, 641; Machek, Et. sl., 265, 585); Upper Sorbian podlěće and podlěčo n. “Vorsommer,” in podlěću “early before summer” (Pfuhl, 477)²⁵. These names, too, are used within a fairly limited dialect area.

²³ Under the influence of Italian, pre- is often replaced by prema-, *prama-, prima-; cf. Serbo-Croatian премање, прѐмање (Karadžić, loc. cit.), прамалѝје and прималѝје (Rječn., loc. cit.); compare the Italian primavera “Frühling” cited above.

²⁴ Ukrainian про́весна, -ни f. (less often), про́весінь, -ні “Frühlingsanfang, Vorfrühling” are formed in the same way; cf. Грінч., III, 459; Кириченко, IV, 442. That the word is apparently inherited from antiquity is shown, for example, by Ukrainian веснянка 1. “Frühlingslied,” 2. “Frühlingsnymphe,” 3. pl. “Sommerprossen” (cf. Russian веснушки), веснуватий “to carry out Frühlingsjahrsarbeiten; to spend the spring,” веснобане “spring pasture for livestock on the plateaus” (Грінч., I, 142).

²⁵ Russian поздимые “поздняя осень,” поздими, поздизме “заморозки, ранняя зима, начало зимы, после которого ещё отпускает, первый снег и морозы,” подзимок “осенний утренник, морозец” (Даль, II, 179) and Czech podzimek, colloquially podzim “Herbst” are formed according to the same derivational pattern and, as Machek believes (Et. sl., 585), arose analogically after the primary podzimí.

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In those languages they exist alongside widely used names for “spring” and therefore have a narrower, more specialized meaning.

c) *na-lėtyje:

Only Sorbian has a “spring” name of this kind; cf. Upper Sorbian nalāče, nalēčo, nalētko “spring,” nalēto adv. “in spring, during spring,” nalētni “spring” (Pfuhl, 401), nalētnik “March” (Jakubas, 194); Lower Sorbian nalēto “the spring, spring,” naletny “belonging to spring,” nalētnik or nalētny (with or without the month) “the spring month, i.e. April” (Mucke, I, 978). It should be noted here that Lower Sorbian lēto, generally used as a name for “year” and “summer,” meant “spring” in Old Sorbian (Jakubica, Gospel of Mark 24, 32).

d) *ža-lėtyje:

Rus. early summer or early summer means “the beginning of summer or the period from mid-May to July” (Даль, 1, 599; Слов. русск. яз., II отд., III, 1378). It corresponds to Czech late summer “late summer” (Kott, V, 134), cf. Russian early winter “the first snowfall, the first frosts, early winter, the beginning of winter” (Слов. русск. яз., II отд., II, 1079).

e) Atskirų kalbų dariniai su *perd-, *prei-, *sъn- resp. paralelės su *ot-, *po-, *pa- ir *do-:

Polish the period before summer “the end of spring, the period immediately before the onset of summer” (J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, Słownik języka polskiego, 5, Warszawa, 1952, p. 61); Polabian early summer “spring, early summer,” cf. summer “year, summer” (BEW, 713); Russian dialectal (from the Perm area) summer abundance²⁶ “summer, summertime, season,” “what summer yields, fruit, vegetables, a supplement to bread,” generally “a good harvest of something, abundance, plenty; good fortune, happiness, or comfort” (Даль, IV, 229), “harvest” (BEW, 713). From Russian, one or two more parallels may be cited: Russian late winter or late-winter cold= late-winter cold = late-winter frosts = late-winter frosts “the last sudden frosts or snowfall in spring, after the warm days, a late, cold spring,” and as terms with the opposite meaning autumn frosts= early winter = autumn frosts “autumn frosts and snow” (Даль, II, 726; III, 231). Cf. also the proverb “Store hay not for winter, but for late-winter cold (or late-winter cold), that is, for a cold, severe spring” (Даль, I, 682).

3. Tie dialektai arba kalbos, kur neišliko žodis *vesna, naudoja dar ir kitą būdą pavasario pavadinimo pakaitalui sudaryti, būtent, šiam tikslui vartoja žodžių grupę – būdvardžio ir daiktavardžio junginį, plg. slovėn. mlado léto „das Frühjahr“ (Pleteršn., I, 513). Iš šio žodžių junginio padaroma ir sudurtiniu žodžiu, pvz., slovėn. mladletje = mladolétje n.; mladlétek, -tka „Frühling“, mladoléten, -tna 1. „Frühlings-“, 2. „minderjährig“; mladolétec, -tca „der Frühjahrsheilige“ (Pleteršn., I, 588), arba priešdėlėtųjų vedinių, pvz.: pomlád f. „der Frühling“ (Pleteršn., II, 141). Struktūra ir semantika slovėnų mlado léto „Frühjahr“ tiksliai atitinka ček. dial.

Dalis doubts the meaning of this dialect word (from the Perm region), apparently bearing in mind that in other Russian dialects it has a different meaning. He derives Слетное from селенье, i.e. “what produced hay,” but this is highly doubtful, since such a strong reduction of се- is scarcely possible; cf. сено in the Russian word сегодня.²⁶

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(probably Moravian) nové léto “spring” (H. K., Et. sl., 203)²⁷. In semantic structure, these derivatives resemble French dialectal (from western Switzerland) renouveau “spring” (Quadri, 88).

What has been established may be summarized as follows:

1. The Indo-European names for spring in the East Baltic languages have undergone far greater changes, both phonetic and semantic, than in the Slavic languages. In this respect, the Slavic languages have better preserved the original situation.

2. Lithuanian vāsara derives from vasera. To demonstrate this, alongside already known facts we have presented new arguments from old Lithuanian writings (wafera in Chylinski’s Bible). Comparing this word with other continuants of ancient Indo-European heteroclitics in the Baltic languages, which also have the root extension element -er- (Lithuanian vėderas, āšera; Latvian vēders, Old Prussian weders), supports this proposal of ours.

3. Lithuanian vāsara, Latvian vasara, meaning “Sommer,” is explained by the fact that the original name for spring in the East Baltic languages came to be used to designate summer. Typological parallels to this phenomenon are presented from the Romance and Slavic languages. In one or another instance, traces of the original meaning of Lithuanian vāsara are also highlighted. Therefore, we offer several conjectures concerning the old common Baltic name for “summer.”

4. Slavic *vesna is used very restrictively (in East Slavic, Polish, and Moravian). Slavic languages that did not preserve *vesna later borrowed this word (Slovenian, Slovak, Czech). Most Slavic languages have replaced it: a) partly with another name for spring, *jarъ, *jarь, *jara, *jaro; b) with formations whose first component is a prefix (*pro-, *pod-, *na-, *za-, *perd-, *prei-), while the second component is the old Slavic name for “summer” (lěto), and whose structure is of the Lithuanian pavasaris type; c) with certain word combinations (in Slovenian and Czech), which most likely arose on the model of German Frühjahr.

5. A typological comparison of material from the Baltic and Slavic languages and, in part, the Romance and Germanic languages (in relative terms) makes it possible to identify the following semantic patterns for later names for spring:

a) “spring,” “before-summer,” “(time) before summer”;

b) “new summer.”

Translated from German by

S. Karaliūnas

ЛИТ. vāsara = СЛ. vesná

Р. ЭКЕРТ

Summary

1. Indo-European names for spring in the East Baltic languages have changed much more, both phonetically and semantically, than in the Slavic languages. In this respect, the Slavic languages have better preserved the original state.

2. Lith. vāsara derives from vasera. To demonstrate this, in addition to facts already known, new arguments are presented from early Lithuanian writing (wafera from Chylinski’s Bible). Comparing this word in the Baltic languages with other continuants of Indo-European heteroclitics, which also have the element -er- in the root extension (Lith. vēderas, āšera; Lat. vēders, Prussian weders), confirms our hypothesis.

²⁷ We thank Dr. V. Šperberis (Leipzig) for noting that the Slovenian examples may also be calques from German. Czech dialectal nové léto may also have been influenced by German Frühjahr.

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3. The lexical meaning “summer” of Lith. vašara and Lat. vasara is explained by the fact that the original name for spring in the East Baltic languages came to be used to designate summer. We provide several typological parallels for this phenomenon in Romance and Slavic languages. Some evidence has been found for the original lexical meaning of Lith. vašara. In this connection, several hypotheses are advanced concerning the old common Baltic name for “summer.”

4. Sl. *vesna (among the East Slavs, Poles, and Moravians) is used very restrictively. Slavic languages that did not preserve the word *vesna borrowed it later (Slovenian, Slovak, Czech). Most Slavic languages replaced the word in question with: a) a different name for spring in some cases, *jarъ, *jarь, *jara, *jaro; b) derived words whose first component is a prefix (*pro-, *pod-, *na-, *za-, *perd-, *prei-), and whose second component is the old Slavic name for “summer” (lěto), with a structure corresponding to the type of Lith. pavāsaris; c) certain phrases (in Slovenian and Czech), probably formed on the model of German Frühjahr.

5. Comparing the data from Baltic, Slavic, Romance, and, in part, Germanic languages (relatively) from a typological perspective, the following semantic models can be identified for later names for spring:

a) “the beginning of summer, early summer; the time before the beginning of summer”;

b) “new summer.”

LIT. vašara = SLAV. vesná

R. ECKERT

Summary

1. The continuants of the Indo-European name for spring underwent greater phonetic and semantic changes in East Baltic than in Slavic. In this case, Slavic has better preserved the original state of affairs.

2. Lithuanian vāsara developed from vasera. In addition to a range of facts already known, we were able to provide new evidence for this from Old Lithuanian (wafera from Chylinski’s Bible). Comparison with other continuants in Baltic of ancient Indo-European heteroclites, which likewise show the vocalism -er- in the extension (Lith. vēderas, āšera; Latv. vēders; Old Prussian weders), enabled us to further substantiate this idea.

3. The meaning of Lithuanian vāsara, Latvian vasara ‘summer’ can be explained by the use of the original name for spring to designate summer in East Baltic. Typological parallels for this phenomenon can be cited from the Romance and Slavic languages. In a number of cases, traces of the old meaning of Lithuanian vāsara were identified. In this connection, we also put forward some hypotheses about the old common Baltic name for ‘summer’.

4. In Slavic, vesná has a very limited distribution (East Slavic, Polish, and Moravian). In some Slavic languages in which vesná was not preserved, the word entered as a late borrowing (Slovenian, Slovak, Czech). In most Slavic languages, it was ‘replaced’: a) partly by the other designation for spring, *jarъ, *jarь, *jara, *jaro; b) by formations whose first component contains a prefix (*pro-, *pod-, *na-, *za-, *perd-, *prei-) and whose second component represents a derivative of the old Slavic name for ‘summer’ (lěto), thus resembling in structure the type found in Lithuanian pavāsaris; c) by certain word combinations (in Slovenian and Czech), which most likely arose on the model of German Frühjahr.

5. Typological comparison of material from the Baltic and Slavic languages, and in part from the Romance and Germanic languages, reveals certain semantic models for the (relatively) recent designations for spring, such as:

a) ‘pre-summer, early summer, first summer’; ‘(time) approaching summer’;

b) ‘new summer’, ‘new-summer’.

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