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verst - n., an obsolete Russian unit of length equal to 1.067 km.
Pronounced as it looks. From Russian of course, not taken directly but rather transmitted through either German or French, arriving in English around 1550 -- rather earlier than you might expect. The Russian word верста itself comes from an Indo-European root meaning bend, turn (the same root behind verse and convert); I suspect there's a plow involved.
---L.
Pronounced as it looks. From Russian of course, not taken directly but rather transmitted through either German or French, arriving in English around 1550 -- rather earlier than you might expect. The Russian word верста itself comes from an Indo-European root meaning bend, turn (the same root behind verse and convert); I suspect there's a plow involved.
---L.
