Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/běka

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

Alternative reconstructions

• *beka (per ESSJa)

Etymology

Agent noun of the onomatopoeic Proto-Slavic *běkati (“to bleat”).

Noun

*běka f

1. sheep

   Synonym: *ovьca

2. type of herb

   → sedge (Carex)

   → hedgenettle (Stachys)

Declension

Declension of *běka (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*běka	*běcě	*běky
genitive	*běky	*běku	*běkъ
dative	*běcě	*běkama	*běkamъ
accusative	*běkǫ	*běcě	*běky
instrumental	*běkojǫ, *běkǫ**	*běkama	*běkami
locative	*běcě	*běku	*běkasъ, *běkaxъ*
vocative	*běko	*běcě	*běky

^* -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

• *běkati (“to bleat”)
• *bějьka (“sheep”)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: бе́ка (béka)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бе́ка

    Latin script: béka

  • Slovene: béka (“plant/tree with long branches”)

Further reading

• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “bē, bā”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 96
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*beka?”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 183
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “бека”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 40