Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sěverъ

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

Inherited from Proto-Balto-Slavic *śḗˀweras／*śjáuˀrias. Derksen derives it from *ḱeh₁wer-o-s, Dybo from *(s)ḱyeh₂w- ~ *(s)ḱih₂w- (“north; north wind”). Cognate with Lithuanian šiaurỹs (“north wind”), šiáurė (“north”), šiū́ra (dialectal).

Noun

*sě̀verъ m

1. north

Inflection

Declension of *sěverъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*sěverъ	*sěvera	*sěveri
genitive	*sěvera	*sěveru	*sěverъ
dative	*sěveru	*sěveroma	*sěveromъ
accusative	*sěverъ	*sěvera	*sěvery
instrumental	*sěverъmь, *sěveromь*	*sěveroma	*sěverȳ
locative	*sěverě	*sěveru	*sěverě̄xъ
vocative	*sěvere	*sěvera	*sěveri

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: сѣверъ (sěverŭ)
    • Russian: се́вер (séver) (Arkhangelsk dialect си́вер (síver, “north wind”))
    • Ukrainian: сі́вер (síver, “cold”)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: сѣверъ (sěverŭ)

    Glagolitic script: ⱄⱑⰲⰵⱃⱏ (sěverŭ)

  • Bulgarian: се́вер (séver)
  • Macedonian: север (sever)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: се̏ве̄р, сје̏ве̄р

    Latin script: sȅvēr, sjȅvēr

  • Slovene: sẹ́ver (tonal orthography), gen. sẹvera; sẹvər (tonal orthography), gen. sẹ́vra
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: sěver
    • Czech: sever
      • → Upper Sorbian: sewjer (“north”)
        • → Lower Sorbian: sewjer (“north”)
  • Polish: siewier, Polish: Siewiór
  • Slovak: sever
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: sowjer (“high-altitude haze”)

References

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “север”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (2002), “север”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 6 (пỳскам – словàр²), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 573