"Soviet" is derived from a Russian word signifying council, assembly, advice, harmony, concord... related to Slavic "věst" ("news"), English "wise", the root in "ad-vis-or" (which came to English through French), or the Dutch "weten" (to know; cf. "wetenschap" = science).
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^^ via Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_(council)#Etymology …
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Replying to @KevinSimler
The Russian wiki disagrees with the English interpretation. I speak/read the language and the Russian wiki that describes «Совет» is more correct. Maybe google translate will do the trick? https://ru.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/совет
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Replying to @alexbakus
Not sure what I’m missing here. If we take the Russian language wiki as ground truth, what’s wrong with the etymology given on the English language wiki?pic.twitter.com/1zuYXbBQtS
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Replying to @KevinSimler
English wiki points to the Slavic “news” of the etymology. Russian wiki does no such thing and is a more forceful approach. The nuance here is not just about “giving advice or counsel”. It’s instructing. Giving direction. Coming from the Slavonic Church side.
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Replying to @alexbakus
But the English just says “related to” the Slavic word for news. Which I take to mean that “soviet” and “věst” share a common ancestor, but not that one is derived from the other. Sorry if I’m being dense here....
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Replying to @KevinSimler
This is the part that I beleive is incorrect. As a native speaker these words do not share commonality, is what I’m trying to say :) not even sure how the link was made. “Vest” comes from “vedat” which is to see. They diverge quite strongly between to instruct vs to spread news.
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Ahhh... ok that does seem wrong! Thanks for helping me understand.
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