верства

• IPA^(key): [ʋerstˈʋa]

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Inherited from Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta), from Proto-Slavic *vьrsta. Cognate with Russian верста́ (verstá), Old East Slavic вьрста (vĭrsta, “age, couple, age-mate, verst (measure of length)”), Old Church Slavonic врьста (vrĭsta, “age”), Bulgarian връст (vrǎst, “age”), Serbo-Croatian вр́ста (“row, type”), Slovene vŕsta (“row, string, type, age”) (tonal orthography), vȓst (“row, type”) (tonal orthography), Czech vrstva (“layer”), Slovak vrstva, Polish warstwa (“row, layer”), Upper Sorbian woršta. Cognate with Russian верте́ть (vertétʹ, “to turn”); per Vasmer, the initial meaning was "turning over of a plow". Further cognate with Lithuanian var̃stas (“verst, distance plowed at one time in one direction”) (also varsnà), participial vir̃stas, Oscan vorsus (“measure of arable land”, literally “turning over”), Latin versus (earlier vorsus), Sanskrit वृत्त (vṛttá, “round, twisted”). Compare Russian све́рстник (svérstnik, “coeval, age-mate”).

верства́ • (verstvá) f inan (genitive верстви́, nominative plural ве́рстви, genitive plural версто́в, relational adjective верствови́й)

1. (historical) verst (former unit of length, equal to 1.06 kilometers)
2. (historical) verst column (columns placed one verst apart, analogous to milestones)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “верста”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

верства́ • (verstvá) f inan (genitive верстви́, nominative plural ве́рстви, genitive plural верств, relational adjective верствови́й)

2. layer, stratum
3. (figurative) stratum, segment (of society)
4. (archaic or dialectal) age group, cohort