Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bogъ

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed words 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

Privative adjectives *ubogъ (“poor, miserable”) and *nebogъ (“poor, miserable”), as well as the later derivation *bogatъ (“rich”) prove that *bogъ was originally also an adjective meaning "earthly wealth/well-being; fortune", with a semantic shift to "dispenser of wealth/fortune" and finally "god". Semantic parallel can be drawn to Indo-Iranian languages: compare Old Persian 𐏎 (baga, “god”), Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬖𐬀‏ (baγa, “god”) (but also 𐬠𐬀𐬔‏ (bag, “apportion”)), as well as Sanskrit epithet often applied to gods भग (bhaga, “dispenser, gracious lord, patron”), proving that Slavic noun had both abstract and concrete meanings. The same Iranian source, but via a Turkic language, also probably gave Proto-Slavic *banъ. Compare also Avar бакъ (baq̇̄, “sun”).

This convincing parallel has led some linguists (e.g. Roman Jakobson) to claim that *bogъ is an Iranian borrowing. Slavic-Iranian parallelism can be further extended to the expressions of Slavic mythology: Dažbog, Belobog and Chernobog, which suggest an existence of Iranian-type dualism in Proto-Slavic mythology.

On a more formal level, absence of Winter's law (if held to apply in open syllables) precludes derivation from hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂gos, *bʰagos.

Some connect it to Ancient Greek ἔφαγον (éphagon, “to eat, devour”) via a semantic shift "I received a share" > "I consumed" > "I ate". This would in turn all derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰeh₂g- (“to distribute, divide”).

Noun

*bȏgъ m

1. god

Declension

*bȏgъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm c)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*bȏgъ	*boga	*bȍdzi
Accusative	*bȏgъ	*boga	*bȍgy
Genitive	*bȍga	*bogu	*bõgъ
Locative	*bȍdzě	*bogu	*bodzě̃xъ
Dative	*bȍgu	*bogoma	*bogõmъ
Instrumental	*bȍgъmь, *bȍgomь*	*bogoma	*bogý
Vocative	*bože	*boga	*bȍdzi

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

Derived terms

• *bogatъ
  • *bogatěti
  • *bogatiti (sę)
  • *bogatьstvo
• *Bogodanъ / *Bogъdanъ
• *Bogomilъ / *Bogumilъ
• *bogovati

• *bogovъ
• *Boguxvalъ
• *Boguslavъ / *Boguslava / *Bogoslavъ / *Bogoslava
• *bogyni
• *Daďьbogъ
• *nebogъ
• *ubogъ

Related terms

• *banъ

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: богъ (bogŭ)
    • Belarusian: бог (boh)
    • Russian: бог (box)
    • Rusyn: бог (boh)
    • Ukrainian: бог (boh)
  • Old Novgorodian: [Term?]

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: богъ (bogŭ)

    Glagolitic: ⰱⱁⰳⱏ (bogŭ)

  • Bulgarian: бог (bog)
  • Macedonian: бог (bog)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: бо̑г

    Latin: bȏg

    • Molise Croatian: bog
  • Slovene: bọ̑g (tonal orthography)

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: bůh
  • Kashubian: bóg
  • Polabian: büg
  • Polish: bóg
  • Silesian: bůg
  • Slovak: boh
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: bog
    • Upper Sorbian: bóh

References

• Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, ISBN 978 90 04 15504 6, page 50
• Trubačev O. N., editor (1975), “*bogъ”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ slavjanskix jazykov [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), volume 02, Moscow: Nauka, page 161
• Skok, Petar (1971) Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (in Serbo-Croatian), volume I, Zagreb: JAZU, page 178ff
• Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q., editors (1997) Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 161
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 1543
• Rix, Helmut, editor (2001) Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, ISBN 3-89500-219-4, page 65
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “бог”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), translated from German and supplemented by Trubačev O. N., Moscow: Progress
• Brückner, Aleksander (1927), “bóg”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish)