different between verst vs erst

English

Alternative forms

• versta
• verste
• werst

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ??????? (verstá), partly through German Werst and French verste.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /v??st/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /v?st/

Noun

verst (plural versts)

1. A Russian unit of length, equivalent to about 1.07 kilometres or about ²?₃ of a mile.
   • 1849, "The Observatory at Pulkowa" The North American Review Volume 0069 Issue 144 (July 1849):

     |The hill Pulkowa, twelve miles (seventeen wersts) south of Admiralty Palace in St. Petersburg, […]

   • 1918, Aylmer and Louise Maude, trans. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Oxford 1998, p. 604:

     ‘Is it much further, Michael?’ she asked the clerk, to dispel the thoughts that frightened her. ‘They say it's seven versts from this village.’

   • 1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:

     You have to tramp three or four versts to get to the exhibition of war loot, past Fabergé eggs and the Impressionists.

Translations

Anagrams

• 'verts, trevs, verts

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?rst

Adjective

verst

1. Superlative form of ver

Adjective

verst

1. Superlative form of vers

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [v?st]

Adverb

verst

1. worst, superlative degree of illa

Icelandic

Adverb

verst

1. worst, superlative degree of illa

Middle English

Noun

verst

1. first

Adjective

verst

1. first

Adverb

verst

1. first

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• vondest

Etymology

From Old Norse verstr.

Pronunciation

• (Fredrikstad dialect) IPA^(key): [??????]

Adjective

verst

1. indefinite singular superlative degree of vond: worst
2. indefinite singular superlative degree of ille: worst
3. indefinite singular superlative degree of ond: worst

References

• “verst” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse verst

Adverb

verst

1. worst

References

• “verst” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Alternative forms

• arste
• yerst (dialectal)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?st/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??st/

Etymology 1

From Middle English erste, from Old English ?resta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere +? -est. Cognate with North Frisian eerst, ærst (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

Adjective

erst (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First.

Etymology 2

From Middle English erst, arst, erest, from Old English ?rest (“first, erst, at first, before all”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist(?) (“erst”). Cognate with Scots erst (“erst”), Dutch eerst.

Adverb

erst (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First of all, before (some other specified thing).
   • 1567, Arthur Golding, Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 2, line 691:

     Consider what I erst have been and what thou seest me now:

2. (obsolete) Sooner (than); before.
3. (archaic, poetic) Formerly, once, erstwhile.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12:

     When lofty trees I see barren of leaves

     Which erst from heat did canopy the herd

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:erst.

Derived terms

• erstwhile

Anagrams

• 'rest, -estr-, -ster, -ster-, ERTs, REST, Rest., SERT, TERs, estr-, rest, rest., rets, tres

German

Etymology

See the numeral erster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e?rst/, [?e???st], [????st]

Adverb

erst

1. first, at first
2. only (with progress, accomplishments or the present time)

3. not until, not for, not before (with reference to a point or period of time in the future)

4. only, as recently as (with reference to the past)

5. short for erstmal

Usage notes

• With reference to time periods and moments, the opposite of erst is schon. Erst emphasizes how long it is until something happens or how recently it has happened, whereas schon how soon in the future or far in the past. Thus:

  erst in drei Wochen = "not for three weeks" [and that seems so far away]

  schon in drei Wochen = "in only three weeks" [and I'm glad I don't have to wait any longer]

• With reference to progress and the like, erst emphasizes how young or short, while schon emphasizes how old or long. Thus:

  Sie ist erst 28 Jahre alt  = "She's only 28" [and yet she has so many accomplishments/she looks so much older, etc.]

  Sie ist schon 28 Jahre alt = "She's already 28" [but it seems only yesterday that she was a little girl]

Synonyms

• (1.) zuerst

Related terms

• erster

Further reading

• “erst” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?rst/, [???rst]

Adjective

?rst

1. Alternative form of ?rest

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, ?ISBN