Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/cěsta

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

Most likely akin to *cěstiti (“to clean”) +‎ *-a. Possibly an old calque of Latin strāta (“paved road”) or Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “street”), which according to Skok explains its limited distribution. According to Derksen, the best etymology is by Zubatý 1894 who connects it with Lithuanian káišti (“to scrape”), Proto-Indo-Iranian *káyćas (“curl of hair”) from Proto-Indo-European *keyḱ- (“to snap”), with "road" being a "worn path" or "flattened/cleared path"; compare Latin via trita (“beaten path, safe path”) and Polish utarta droga.

Alternatively, from pre-Slavic *cětta/*cědta related to Proto-Germanic *haiþī (“heath, wasteland”), Proto-Brythonic *koɨd (“forest”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keyt- (“to cleanse, to cut”) or to Latin scissus (“cut, split”), Ancient Greek σχῐστός (skhistós, “cloven, dissected”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keyd- (“to split, to cleave”).

Noun

*cě̀sta f

1. road

   Synonyms: *dorga, *pǫtь, *stьdza

Declension

Declension of *cě̀sta (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*cě̀sta	*cě̀stě	*cě̀sty
genitive	*cě̀sty	*cě̀stu	*cě̀stъ
dative	*cě̀stě	*cě̀stama	*cě̀stamъ
accusative	*cě̀stǫ	*cě̀stě	*cě̀sty
instrumental	*cě̀stojǫ, *cě̀stǭ**	*cě̀stama	*cě̀stamī
locative	*cě̀stě	*cě̀stu	*cě̀stasъ, *cě̀staxъ*
vocative	*cě̀sto	*cě̀stě	*cě̀sty

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Related terms

• *čistъ (“clean”)
• *cěditi (“to filter”)
• *ščitъ (“shield”) (possibly)

Derived terms

• *cěstiti (“to cleanse, to castrate”)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: цѣста (cěsta)

    Glagolitic script: ⱌⱑⱄⱅⰰ (cěsta)

  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: цѐста

    Latin script: cèsta

    • Chakavian (Vrgada): cȅsta
    • Chakavian (Orbanići): cȅsta
    • Chakavian (Iž): cȅsta
    • Kajkavian (Varaždin): c'ẹsta
  • Slovene: cẹ́sta (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: cěsta, ciesta
    • Czech: cesta
  • Slovak: cesta

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1976), “*cěsta”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 3 (*bratrьcь – *cьrky), Moscow: Nauka, page 188
• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1976), “*cěsta”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volumes 2 (caca – davьnota), Wrocław: Ossolineum, page 83
• Skok, Petar (1971) “Proto-Slavic/cěsta”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 1 (A – J), Zagreb: JAZU, page 259
• Alenka Šivic-Dular, Slovanska nomina appellativa za prometnice in njihova arealna distribucija, 2011, Folia onomastica Croatica, No.19, p. 251ff