ABOUT A LEXICAL ARCHAISM OF RUSSIAN DIALECTS

In some Russian dialects, a verb леть, лею unknown to Slavic languages has been preserved in verbs attested in the prefixed form. The meanings of prefixed verbs заослеть, слеть, полеть that are far apart from each other have become the result of complex semantic transformations that go back to the original designation of a special state caused by the influence of heat and moisture. The verb *lěti, lějǫ (< i.-e. *lē- ‘sluggish, weak’) which has become the generating basis for the adjective *lětъ(jь) (~ лит. ltas ‘slow, quiet, calm’), fills in the material necessary for explaining etymologically difficult words, including Russian dial. леть ‘warm water’, слеть ‘weather’, слетиться ‘warm up, about water’, and also slav. *lěto.