Formed from the adverb *drevľe (“ago”) + *-ьnъ, but beyond that - of disputed origin:
- Per Vasmer, Trubachev: from Proto-Indo-European *drewHís (“strong, robust”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (“true”) and akin to Lithuanian dravė́ti (“to gouge, to hollow”). Georgiev also relates it to Sanskrit द्रवति (dravati, “to run, to flee”), Ancient Greek δρᾰ́ω (drắō, “to take action”) from Proto-Indo-European *drewh₂-, however, Vasmer finds that comparison doubtful.
- Per Trubachev: possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrew-, an extension of Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold”). Akin to Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰruwás (“fixated, firm, stable”), Latin firmus (“firm”). Likely related to the sparsely attested Proto-Slavic *druti (“to withstand, to endure”).
*drevьnъ[1][2]
- ancient, archaic
- very old
- Synonym: *prastarъ
- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “дре́вний”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*drevьnъ(jь)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 107
- Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “древен²”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 423
- ^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*drevьnь; *drevьnъ”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 239: “adj. jo; adj. o ‘ancient’”
- ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “drev(ьnjь)”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “c gammeldags (PR 139)”
