Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/lapa

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *lāˀpāˀ. Cognate with Latvian lāpа, Lithuanian lopa, Proto-Germanic *lōfô. Related to *lopъ.

Noun

*lapa f

1. paw

Inflection

Declension of *lapa (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*lapa	*lapě	*lapy
genitive	*lapy	*lapu	*lapъ
dative	*lapě	*lapama	*lapamъ
accusative	*lapǫ	*lapě	*lapy
instrumental	*lapojǫ, *lapǫ**	*lapama	*lapami
locative	*lapě	*lapu	*lapasъ, *lapaxъ*
vocative	*lapo	*lapě	*lapy

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Related terms

• *lopъ

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old Ruthenian: ла́па (lápa)
    • Belarusian: ла́па (lápa)
    • Ukrainian: ла́па (lápa)
  • Russian: ла́па (lápa)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: лапа (lapa)

    Glagolitic script: ⰾⰰⱂⰰ (lapa)

  • Bulgarian: ла́па (lápa)
  • Macedonian: лапа (lapa)
  • Slovene: lápa (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: tlapa
  • Polish: łapa; dłapa (dialectal)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ла́па”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “ла́па”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka