Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žezlъ

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

Of uncertain origin. Potential etymologies include:

• Trubachev, Derksen: From Proto-Indo-European *geǵʰlós (with oxytone accent on the last syllable), cognate with Old High German kegil (“stake”).
• Snoj: From Proto-Indo-European *gʷislóm, cognate with Old Armenian ճիւղ (čiwł, “branch, twig”), possibly Old Norse kvísl (“fork”) (which however exhibits long -ī-) and akin to Proto-Slavic *žila (“sinew”), Proto-Slavic *žica (“thread”). Within this hypothesis, -z- in Slavic is problematic.
• Mladenov, Georgiev: From an earlier Proto-Slavic *žeglъ (“branding needle, rod”), the l-participle of Proto-Slavic *žegti (“to heat up, to burn”), with assimilation of *-g- > *-z- (or -ž- in Serbo-Croatian) next to *ž-. Such an etynom still survives in Modern Bulgarian жегъл (žegǎl).

Noun

*žèzlъ n

1. stick, staff, rod

   Synonyms: *palъka, *prǫtъ

Alternative forms

• *žьzlъ, *žьzlь (probably with a rise of -e- in pretonic syllable, prior of Dybo's law)
• *žezlò n

Inflection

Declension of *žèzlъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žèzlъ	*žezlà	*žezlì
genitive	*žezlà	*žezlù	*žèzlъ
dative	*žezlù	*žezlòma	*žezlòmъ
accusative	*žèzlъ	*žezlà	*žezlỳ
instrumental	*žezlъ̀mь, *žezlòmь*	*žezlòma	*žèzly
locative	*žezlě̀	*žezlù	*žèzlěxъ
vocative	*žezle	*žezlà	*žezlì

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

Related terms

• *žigъ (“brand”) (possibly)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: жезл (žezl), жезе́л (žezél)
  • Ukrainian: жезл (žezl)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: жьзлъ (žĭzlŭ)
    • ⇒ Old Church Slavonic: жьзлиѥ (žĭzlije)
  • Bulgarian: жѐзъл (žèzǎl)
  • Macedonian: жезол (žezol)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: же́жељ, жѐзло

    Latin script: žéželj, žèzlo

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: žezlo
    • → Belarusian: жазло́ (žazló)
    • → Slovene: žézlo
  • Slovak: žezlo

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “жезл”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “жезъл”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 531