воудра

Old Novgorodian

sense 1

sense 2

воудра

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vydra with Old Novgorodian dialectal change y > u after a labial consonant (i.e. labialization). Compare with Sorbian wudra. Cognates include Old East Slavic вꙑдра (vydra), Old Ruthenian вы́дра (výdra), Old Polish wydra.

First attested in c. 1200–1220 as воудоро in “domestic orthography”, i.e. воудъръ (vudŭrŭ, gen. pl.) with an unclear inserted a reduced vowel -дър-.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: воу‧дра

Noun

воудра • (vudra) f (dialectal, hapax legomenon)

2. otter (Lutra lutra)
4. otterskin
   • c. 1200 – 1220, Birch bark letter no. 713^[1], Novgorod (Troitsky excavation, Estate O):

     […] (ѿ) михалѧ : ко прокоше : цето ти воудоро : цето ти церѣмени : цето ти роудавещене : и голоубине добре […]

     […] (otŭ) mixalę : ko prokoše : cʹjeto ti vudoro : cʹjeto ti cʹjerěmeni : cʹjeto ti rudavesʹcʹjene : i golubine dobre […]

     […] (Greetings from) Mikhal to Proksha. [All] that you have of the otters (pelts), that you have of the red cloth, that you have of the fine reddish-brown and light blue cloth […]

Declension

Declension of воудра (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	воудра vudra	воудрѣ vudrě	воудрѣ vudrě
genitive	воудрѣ vudrě	воудроу vudru	воудръ vudrŭ
dative	воудрѣ vudrě	воудрама vudrama	воудрамъ vudramŭ
accusative	воудрѫ vudrǫ	воудрѣ vudrě	воудрѣ vudrě
instrumental	воудроѭ vudrojǫ	воудрама vudrama	воудрами vudrami
locative	воудрѣ vudrě	воудроу vudru	воудрахъ vudraxŭ
vocative	воудро vudro	воудрѣ vudrě	воудрѣ vudrě

Related terms

Old Novgorodian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wed- (0 c, 1 e)

Descendants

• → Russian: вудра́ (vudrá), у́дра́ (údrá) (Pskov)
  • ⇒ Russian: Вудрино (Vudrino), Удрино (Udrino) (toponym)
  • ⇒ Russian: Вудрицы (Vudricy), Удрицы (Udricy) (toponym)
  • ⇒ Russian: Вудрицкое болото (Vudrickoje boloto) (hydronym)

Further reading

• “выдра”, in “Birchbark Letters Corpus”, in Russian National Corpus, https://ruscorpora.ru, 2003–2025