Zemsky Sobor, n.

zemsky-sobor
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zemsky-sobor_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zemsky Sobornoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zemsky Sobor mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zemsky Sobor?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.0052
1880 | 0.0053
1890 | 0.0063
1900 | 0.0088
1910 | 0.015
1920 | 0.018
1930 | 0.024
1940 | 0.027
1950 | 0.028
1960 | 0.027
1970 | 0.024
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.016
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.0051

### How is the noun Zemsky Sobor pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌz(j)ɛmski səˈbɔː/
zyem-skee suh-BOR

#### U.S. English

/ˌzɛmski səˈbɔr/
zem-skee suh-BOR

### Where does the noun Zemsky Sobor come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun Zemsky Sobor is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zemsky Sobor is from 1877, in the Times (London).

Zemsky Sobor is a borrowing from Russian.

Etymons: Russian zemskij sobor.

### Nearby entries

1. zelotypia, n. 1566–
2. zelotyping, adj. a1660
3. zelotypist, n.?1632
4. zelotypy, n. 1623–1794
5. Zemblan, n. & adj. 1674–1805
6. Zemblian, n. & adj. 1674–1796
7. zemi, n. 1555–
8. zemiistic, adj. 1907–
9. zemirah, n. 1767–
10. zemni, n. 1775–
11. Zemsky Sobor, n.1877–
12. zemstvo, n. 1865–
13. zemstvoist, n. 1904–
14. Zen, n. & adj. 1727–
15. Zen, v. 1968–
16. zenana, n. & adj. 1761–
17. zenana cloth, n. 1885–
18. Zen Buddhist, adj. & n. 1917–
19. Zend, n. & adj. 1700–
20. zendaletto, n. 1789–
21. Zend-Avesta, n. 1630–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Russian.
Etymon: Russian zemskij sobor.
< Russian zemskij sobor ecclesiastical council (18th cent.), national assembly (19th cent. or earlier; plural zemskie sobory) < zemskij (adjective) of land (< zemlja land, earth: see Zemblan n.) + sobor…
< Russian zemskij sobor ecclesiastical council (18th cent.), national assembly (19th cent. or earlier; plural zemskie sobory) < zemskij (adjective) of land (< zemlja land, earth: see Zemblan n.) + sobor assembly.

Compare zemstvo n.

### Notes

In plural form Zemskie Sobory after the Russian plural form.
Compare the following earlier example of a borrowing of Russian sobor in the same sense:

1. 1769

   > Michael Federowitz instituted them, in the beginning of the last century, to controul the Sobor or Senate, which had limited the power of the Czar.

   translation of F. Algarotti, Letters to Lord Hervey vol. I. v. 99

## Meaning & use

Russian History.

1. 1877–
   In 16th and 17th century Russia: a national assembly, convened (usually by the tsar) for particular purposes, and consisting of representatives of the aristocracy and landowners, the ecclesiastical authorities, and the merchants and free citizens of the towns.
   The Zemsky Sobor was established under Ivan the Terrible in the mid 16th cent., but its importance declined after the 1620s. By the end of the century it had ceased to operate as a national body, although its revival has been proposed on several occasions (see quots. 1882, 1918).
   1. 1877

      > The Deputies..formed a kind of national Assembly called a Zémski Sobór.

      Times 18 October 8/4
   2. 1882

      > He [sc. the Czar] ought to convoke the representatives of the people (zemsky sobor) and to solemnly return them the sovereign power, to whom it rightfully belongs.

      Boston Daily Globe 13 November 1/3
   3. 1902

      > Vladislav..was to become ruler of Russia,..as one whose power was to be limited even to a greater extent than that of Shuiski, by the council or douma of the boiars and the states general, or Zemsky sobor of Russia.

      M. Kovalevsky, Russ. Polit. Inst. iii. 56
   4. 1918

      > The Grand Duke is reported to have issued a manifesto to the Russian people adhering to his abdication and leaving the decision as to the form of government to be adopted to the Zemsky Sobor (Duma), which was to be convoked.

      Times 27 June 5/3
   5. 1958

      > The reforms of Peter put an end both to the Zemski Sobor and the Duma.

      D. J. R. Scott, Russian Political Institutions i. 23
   6. 2012

      > The 1613 zemsky sobor enthroned a new dynasty, the Romanovs.

      American Sociologist vol. 43 355
   history parliament ecclesiastical
   1. Zemsky Sobor 1877–
      In 16th and 17th century Russia: a national assembly, convened (usually by the tsar) for particular purposes, and consisting of representatives of…
   2. Supreme Soviet 1936–
      The national legislature of the U.S.S.R.; (also) the national legislature of any of its constituent republics.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌz(j)ɛmski səˈbɔː/
zyem-skee suh-BOR

### U.S. English

/ˌzɛmski səˈbɔr/
zem-skee suh-BOR

####

##### 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: Zemskie Sobory, Zemsky Sobors

### Variant forms

#### 1.

1. 1800s–
   Zemskii Sobor, Zemski Sobor, Zemsky Sobor

#### 2. Also with lower-case initials.

## Frequency

Zemsky Sobor typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

Zemsky Sobor is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 Zemsky Sobor, 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 | 0.0052
1880 | 0.0053
1890 | 0.0063
1900 | 0.0088
1910 | 0.015
1920 | 0.018
1930 | 0.024
1940 | 0.027
1950 | 0.028
1960 | 0.027
1970 | 0.024
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.016
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.0051

Zemsky Sobor, n. was revised in June 2018.

Zemsky Sobor, n. was last modified in September 2024.