Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ostь
Proto-Slavic
Alternative forms
- (after soft, palatal consonants): *-estь
Etymology
There are several theories of origin:
- Cognate with Hittite [script needed] (-ašti) (in [script needed] n (dalugašti-, “length”) < [script needed] pl (dalugaeš, “long”, adj.)).
- According to Halla-Aho, by double suffixation */-otLua error in Module:links at line 217: The specified language Proto-Slavic is unattested, while the given term does not begin with '*' to indicate that it is reconstructed./. e.g. *dobrъ → *dobrota → *dobrostь
Suffix
*-ostь f
- Used with adjectival stems to form abstract nouns; -ness
Declension
Declension of *-ostь (i-stem)
singular | dual | plural | |
---|---|---|---|
nominative | *-ostь | *-osti | *-osti |
genitive | *-osti | *-ostьju, *-osťu* | *-ostьjь, *-osti* |
dative | *-osti | *-ostьma | *-ostьmъ |
accusative | *-ostь | *-osti | *-osti |
instrumental | *-ostьjǫ, *-osťǫ* | *-ostьma | *-ostьmi |
locative | *-osti | *-ostьju, *-osťu* | *-ostьxъ |
vocative | *-osti | *-osti | *-osti |
* 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).
Usage notes
This suffix was used after hard consonants, as opposed to the variant form *-estь that was used with stems ending in a soft, palatal consonant.
Derived terms
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
References
- Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz (2002), Indo-European abstracta ending with -osti-: the Ossetic evidence, Lingua Posnaniensis 44, p. 175-179
- Vaillant, André (1974), Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, tome IV. Paris, p. 373-377
- Arumaa, Peeter (1985), Urslavische Grammatik, Band III. Heidelberg. p. 46
- Birnbaum, Henrik & Jos Schaeken (1997) Das altkirchenslavische Wort: Bildung - Bedeutung - Herleitung. (Slavistische Beiträge, 348.) München. p.50
- Halla-aho, Jussi (2006) Problems of Proto-Slavic Historical Nominal Morphology: On the Basis of Old Church Slavic (Slavica Helsingiensia; 26), Helsinki: University of Helsinki, page 51
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьlgostь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 05 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 207