Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/svěťa

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 *světъ (“light”) +‎ *-ja. Compare Sanskrit श्वेत्य (śvetya, “white”).

Noun

*svě̄ťà f

1. candle

Inflection

Declension of *svě̄ťà (soft a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*svě̄ťà	*svě̃ťi	*svě̄ťę̇̀
genitive	*svě̄ťę̇̀	*svě̄ťù	*svě̃ťь
dative	*svě̄ťì	*svě̄ťàma	*svě̄ťàmъ
accusative	*svě̄ťǫ̀	*svě̃ťi	*svě̄ťę̇̀
instrumental	*svě̄ťèjǫ, *svě̃ťǫ**	*svě̄ťàma	*svě̄ťàmī
locative	*svě̄ťì	*svě̄ťù	*svě̄ťàsъ, *svě̄ťàxъ*
vocative	*svěťe	*svě̃ťi	*svě̄ťę̇̀

^* -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: свѣча (svěča)
    • Belarusian: свяча́ (svjačá) (dated), све́чка (svjéčka)
    • Russian: свеча́ (svečá), све́чка (svéčka)
    • Ukrainian: свіча́ (svičá) (dated), сві́чка (svíčka)

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: свѣща (svěšta)

    Glagolitic: ⱄⰲⱑⱋⰰ (svěšta)

  • Bulgarian: свещ (svešt), свяш (svjaš) (dialectal)
  • Macedonian: све́ќа (svéḱa)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: све́ћа, свије́ћа

    Latin: svéća, svijéća

  • Slovene: svẹ́ča (tonal orthography)

• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: sviecě
    • Czech: svíce
  • Kashubian: swiéca
  • Polabian: svećă
  • Old Polish: świeca
    • Polish: świeca
  • Slovak: svieca
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: swěca
    • Lower Sorbian: swěca

References

• Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 475
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “свеча”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “свеча”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 146