Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gospoda

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 *gospodь (“lord”) +‎ *-a (“collective suffix”), akin to Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”).

Noun

*gospodà f

1. dominion, sovereignty, property
2. (by specialization) hostel, tavern, inn

   Synonym: *gosti(lь)nica

Inflection

Declension of *gospodà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*gospodà	*gospòdě	*gospodỳ
genitive	*gospodỳ	*gospodù	*gospòdъ
dative	*gospodě̀	*gospodàma	*gospodàmъ
accusative	*gospodǫ̀	*gospòdě	*gospodỳ
instrumental	*gospodòjǫ, *gospòdǫ**	*gospodàma	*gospodàmī
locative	*gospodě̀	*gospodù	*gospodàsъ, *gospodàxъ*
vocative	*gospodo	*gospòdě	*gospodỳ

^* -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:
  • Old East Slavic: господа (gospoda, “dominion”)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: господа (gospoda, “hostel”)
  • Serbo-Croatian: gospòda
  • Slovene: gospóda (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: hospoda
    • Czech: hospoda
  • Kashubian: gòspòda
  • Polish: gospoda
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: góspoda
    • Upper Sorbian: hospoda

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “господа”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1980), “*gospoda”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 7 (*golvačь – *gyžati), Moscow: Nauka, page 58