zemstvo, n.

zemstvo
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zemstvo_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zemstvonoun

## Earlier version

- zemstvo in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zemstvo mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zemstvo. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zemstvo?

About 0.3occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.058
1880 | 0.081
1890 | 0.12
1900 | 0.16
1910 | 0.25
1920 | 0.27
1930 | 0.32
1940 | 0.37
1950 | 0.42
1960 | 0.4
1970 | 0.4
1980 | 0.35
1990 | 0.28
2000 | 0.23
2010 | 0.18

### How is the noun zemstvo pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛmstvəʊ/
ZEMST-voh

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɛmst(ˌ)voʊ/
ZEMST-voh
/ˈzɛmstvə/
ZEMST-vuh

### Where does the noun zemstvo come from?

Earliest known use

1860s

The earliest known use of the noun zemstvo is in the 1860s.

OED's earliest evidence for zemstvo is from 1865, in Saunders's News-letter.

zemstvo is a borrowing from Russian.

Etymons: Russian zemstvo.

### Nearby entries

1. zelotyping, adj. a1660
2. zelotypist, n.?1632
3. zelotypy, n. 1623–1794
4. Zemblan, n. & adj. 1674–1805
5. Zemblian, n. & adj. 1674–1796
6. zemi, n. 1555–
7. zemiistic, adj. 1907–
8. zemirah, n. 1767–
9. zemni, n. 1775–
10. Zemsky Sobor, n. 1877–
11. zemstvo, n.1865–
12. zemstvoist, n. 1904–
13. Zen, n. & adj. 1727–
14. Zen, v. 1968–
15. zenana, n. & adj. 1761–
16. zenana cloth, n. 1885–
17. Zen Buddhist, adj. & n. 1917–
18. Zend, n. & adj. 1700–
19. zendaletto, n. 1789–
20. Zend-Avesta, n. 1630–
21. Zend-Avestaic, adj. 1816

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Russian.
Etymon: Russian zemstvo.
< Russian zemstvo (plural zemstva; 1780 or earlier in sense ‘local officials collectively’) < zemlja land, earth (see Zemblan n.) + ‑stvo, suffix forming nouns…
< Russian zemstvo (plural zemstva; 1780 or earlier in sense ‘local officials collectively’) < zemlja land, earth (see Zemblan n.) + ‑stvo, suffix forming nouns.

### Notes

In the form zempstwo showing epenthetic ‑p‑.
In the plural form zemstva after the Russian plural form.

## Meaning & use

Now historical.

1. 1865–
   Any council belonging to a system of elected district and provincial assemblies established in Russia by Tsar Alexander II in 1864 for the purposes of local government.
   In the early years of the 20th cent., the zemstvos agitated for political and constitutional reform, and were instrumental in sparking revolutionary activity. They were abolished in the period after the October Revolution of 1917.
   Recorded earliest in attributive use; cf. Compounds.
   1. 1865

      > He..sneered at the upstart ambition of the Zempstwo class, by which is meant the mere owners of certain acreable amount of the soil.

      Saunders's News-letter 8 February 1/5
   2. 1896

      > The Zemstwo of Odessa.

      Jewish Chronicle 17 January 8/1
   3. 1958

      > The history of the pressure for political freedom was closely interwoven with the development of the organs of local self-government, the Zemstva.

      Times Literary Supplement 10 January 14/3
   4. 1983

      > Members of local zemstvos might soon enjoy a voice in the internal government of the country.

      P. Ustinov, My Russia xi. 122
   5. 2002

      > The zemstvos were run by paternal squires of the sort who fill the pages of Tolstoy and Chekhov—liberal, well-meaning men who dreamed of bringing civilization to the backward countryside.

      O. Figes, Natasha's Dance (2003) iv. i. 226
   politics historical
   1. rayon 1830–
      Originally: (in Russia and some other parts of Eastern Europe) the area surrounding a city, fortress, etc.; a district, a precinct; cf. rayon, n.¹…
   2. oblast 1844–
      In Russia: a province or region; a major administrative division of the Soviet Union and some other countries formerly part of the Soviet Union; spec.…
   3. zemstvo 1865–
      Any council belonging to a system of elected district and provincial assemblies established in Russia by Tsar Alexander II in 1864 for the purposes…
   4. volost 1889–
      The smallest rural administrative subdivision in Imperial Russia and the U.S.S.R. (abolished in 1930).
   5. kray 1938–
      = oblast, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zemstvo 1865–
      Any council belonging to a system of elected district and provincial assemblies established in Russia by Tsar Alexander II in 1864 for the purposes…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛmstvəʊ/
ZEMST-voh

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛmst(ˌ)voʊ/
ZEMST-voh
/ˈzɛmstvə/
ZEMST-vuh

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Forms

### Inflections

Plural: zemstvos, zemstva

### Variant forms

#### 1.

1. 1800s
   zempstwo, zemstwo
2. 1800s–
   zemstvo

#### 2. Also with capital initial.

## Frequency

zemstvo typically occurs about 0.3 times per million words in modern written English.

zemstvo is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zemstvo, n., 1870–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1870 | 0.058
1880 | 0.081
1890 | 0.12
1900 | 0.16
1910 | 0.25
1920 | 0.27
1930 | 0.32
1940 | 0.37
1950 | 0.42
1960 | 0.4
1970 | 0.4
1980 | 0.35
1990 | 0.28
2000 | 0.23
2010 | 0.18

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zemstvoist, n. 1904–
   A member of a zemstvo or a supporter of the…

1. 1865–
   General attributive, as zemstvo assembly, zemstvo council, zemstvo government, etc.
   1. 1865

      > He..sneered at the upstart ambition of the Zempstwo class, by which is meant the mere owners of certain acreable amount of the soil.

      Saunders's News-letter 8 February 1/5
   2. 1877

      > Though he rarely speaks in the Zemstvo assembly, he is a most useful man in committees.

      D. M. Wallace, Russia xv. 248
   3. 1904

      > An official communiqué administering a severe rebuke to the leaders of the Zemstvo movement.

      Spectator 31 December 1069/2
   4. 1923

      > Organs of Zemstvo government were replaced by Soviet organizations, but Zemstvo schools and Zemstvo hospitals still continue to exist.

      Political Science Quarterly vol. 38 562
   5. 1974

      > Rusanov..was appointed statistician to the Zemstvo council, and thus was able to support himself and his family quite reasonably.

      Canadian Slavonic Papers vol. 16 573
   6. 1997

      > At a speech to zemstvo delegates in 1916, L'vov identified his organization as representing le pays réel, displaying both real competence and genuine patriotism.

      G. Hosking, Russia (1998) iv. v. 451
   7. 2006

      > With the consent of the provincial zemstvo assembly, it announced a cut in the hospital's capacity from 550 to 386 patients.

      Law & Hist. Review vol. 24 35
   historical

zemstvo, n. was revised in June 2018.

zemstvo, n. was last modified in December 2024.