Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/vila

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

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

*vila f

1. nymph
2. fairy

Declension

Declension of *vila (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*vila	*vilě	*vily
genitive	*vily	*vilu	*vilъ
dative	*vilě	*vilama	*vilamъ
accusative	*vilǫ	*vilě	*vily
instrumental	*vilojǫ, *vilǫ**	*vilama	*vilami
locative	*vilě	*vilu	*vilasъ, *vilaxъ*
vocative	*vilo	*vilě	*vily

^* -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: вила (vila)
    • Belarusian: віла (vila)
    • Russian: вила́ (vilá)
    • Ukrainian: вила (vyla)

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: вила (vila)

    Glagolitic script: ⰲⰻⰾⰰ (vila)

  • Bulgarian: вила (vila)
  • Macedonian: вила (vila)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: вила

    Latin script: vila

  • Slovene: vila

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: víla
  • Polish: wiła
  • Slovak: víla

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “вила́”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress