See also: Vístula

English edit

 
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Etymology edit

Learned borrowing from Latin Vistula.

Pronunciation edit

Proper noun edit

Vistula

  1. The longest river in Poland, which flows into the Baltic Sea.

Translations edit

Latin edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

In the form Visula and Visla at least sometimes directly acquired from Proto-Slavic *Visъla. The form Viscla resolves the /sl/ cluster like in Sclavus, uncommon in Latin, and in Germanic, via which it has sometimes been acquired.

Often explained as from the Proto-Indo-European root *weys- (to flow) as in Proto-Germanic *waisǭ (mire), although if of Slavic origin then *visěti (to hang) would afford a readier stem, suffixed +‎ *-lo +‎ *-a or +‎ *-sla, for which ever reason they would have called it the “hanging river” or “saggy stream”.

 
View of the river

Proper noun edit

Vistula f sg (genitive Vistulae); first declension

  1. Vistula
    • 551, Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum[1], section V:
      Sclavini a Civitate Novidunensi (Mss. : Civitate Nova et Sclavino Rumunensi), et lacu qui appellatur Mursianus (var. : Musianus, Murianus), usque ad Danastrum, et in Boream Viscla tenus commorantur: hi paludes silvasque pro civitatibus habent.
      The Slavs abide from Noviodunum ad Istrum now known as Isákča and the Mursa lake to the Dniester, and farther north up to the Vistula: here they have the swamps and forests for municipalities.

Declension edit

First-declension noun, singular only.

Case Singular
Nominative Vistula
Genitive Vistulae
Dative Vistulae
Accusative Vistulam
Ablative Vistulā
Vocative Vistula

References edit

  • Vistula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • Vistula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Vistula”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly