Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bьčela

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

Sometimes explained as a deverbative of *bučati (“to make noise, roar”) and reconstructed as *bъčela. A bee is, therefore, the one that makes noise.

Alternatively from North-West Proto-Indo-European *bʰi-kʷe- (“bee, stinging insect”), an extension of root *bʰi- (“to hit, strike”) - compare *biti (“to beat, hit”).

In OCS canon, form бьчєла (bĭčela) occurs just once, in Psalterium Sinaiticum, but the form бъчєла (bŭčela) being just as rare, it's impossible to precisely reconstruct late Proto-Slavic form on the basis of Old Church Slavonic. Since this Proto-Slavic word was an oxytone, none of the daughters retain a reflex of the medial weak jer.

Baltic cognates (Latvian bite, Lithuanian bìtė, Old Prussian bitte) would in that case render the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Balto-Slavic forms as *bikelē and *bitē.

Indo-European cognates include Old Irish bech (Irish beach), Old High German bīa, Old English bēo (English bee), Dutch bij, dialectal German Beie (German Biene), Old Norse bý (Danish bi).

Noun

*bьčelà f

1. bee

Declension

Declension of *bьčelà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bьčelà	*bьčèlě	*bьčelỳ
genitive	*bьčelỳ	*bьčelù	*bьčèlъ
dative	*bьčelě̀	*bьčelàma	*bьčelàmъ
accusative	*bьčelǫ̀	*bьčèlě	*bьčelỳ
instrumental	*bьčelòjǫ, *bьčèlǫ**	*bьčelàma	*bьčelàmī
locative	*bьčelě̀	*bьčelù	*bьčelàsъ, *bьčelàxъ*
vocative	*bьčelo	*bьčèlě	*bьčelỳ

^* -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).

See also

• *bǫbarъ (“beetle; bumblebee”)
• *bьčela (“bee”)
• *čьmeľь (“bumblebee”)
• *komarъ (“mosquito”)
• *muxa (“fly”)
• *osa (“wasp”)
• *sьrxy (“hornet”)
• *trǫtъ (“drone”)
• *žuža

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: пчала́ (pčalá)
  • Russian: пчела́ (pčelá)
  • Carpathian Rusyn: пчола (pčola)
  • Ukrainian: бджола́ (bdžolá)

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: бьчела (bĭčela), бъчела (bŭčela)

    Glagolitic: ⰱⱐⱍⰵⰾⰰ (bĭčela), ⰱⱏⱍⰵⰾⰰ (bŭčela)

  • Bulgarian: пчела́ (pčelá)
  • Macedonian: пчела (pčela)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пчѐла

    Latin script: pčèla

    • Slavomolisano: čela, čèla
  • Slovene: čebẹ̑la, čəbẹ̑la (tonal orthography)

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: včela
  • Kashubian: pszczoła
  • Polabian: celă
  • Old Polish: pczeła, pczoła
    • Polish: pszczoła
  • Slovak: včela
  • Slovincian: pščʉˋɵ̯lă
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: pcołka
    • Upper Sorbian: pčoła

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1976), “*bъčela”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 03 (*bratrьcь – *cьrky), Moscow: Nauka, page 104