Vyt

Vyt

 

in 15th- to 20th-century Russia, a term signifying a part or share of something. It had various meanings:

(1) In the 16th and 17th centuries, the vyt’ was a small unit for the apportionment of taxes. Until the second half of the 16th century it was not associated with a definite land mea-sure. At the end of the 16th and in the 17th century the vyt’ was most widely used in terms of 12, 14, and 16 chetverti (1 chetvert’ = 0.55 hectare), depending on the quality of the land in the field. In the 17th century on some estates in Pomor’e a vyt’ incorporated five to 12 peasant households. With the transition to the poll tax in the first quarter of the 18th century, the vyt’ was replaced by a new tax unit—the tiaglo, which completely replaced the vyt’ by the beginning of the 19th century.

(2) A component of a prikaz (office) town hall; later, the origin of the words povyt’e (court proceedings) andpovytchik (a court official).