Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/dьržava

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 *dьržati (“to hold”) +‎ *-ava.

Noun

*dьržava f

1. power, rule, kingdom

Usage notes

Most of the modern descendants have developed the meaning of country, state

Declension

Declension of *dьržava (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*dьržava	*dьržavě	*dьržavy
genitive	*dьržavy	*dьržavu	*dьržavъ
dative	*dьržavě	*dьržavama	*dьržavamъ
accusative	*dьržavǫ	*dьržavě	*dьržavy
instrumental	*dьržavojǫ, *dьržavǫ**	*dьržavama	*dьržavami
locative	*dьržavě	*dьržavu	*dьržavasъ, *dьržavaxъ*
vocative	*dьržavo	*dьržavě	*dьržavy

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: дзяржа́ва (dzjaržáva)
  • Russian: держа́ва (deržáva)
  • Ukrainian: держа́ва (deržáva)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: дръжава (drŭžava)
  • Bulgarian: държава (dǎržava)
  • Macedonian: држава (država)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: држава

    Latin script: država

  • Slovene: država
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: država (“dependency”)
  • Polish: dzierżawa (“lease”)
  • Slovak: dŕžava (“dependency”) (archaic)

References

• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “държава”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 461

Further Reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “держава”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress