Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žerava

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

Substantivized form of the adjective *žeravъ (“scorching, burning”) +‎ *-a. Some descendants have epenthetic -j-, probably by analogy with Proto-Slavic *žařavъ, *žařavica (“scorching heat, hearth”), from Proto-Slavic *žařati (“to burn down”).

Noun

*žera̋va f

1. live coal
2. hearth

Declension

Declension of *žerava (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žerava	*žeravě	*žeravy
genitive	*žeravy	*žeravu	*žeravъ
dative	*žeravě	*žeravama	*žeravamъ
accusative	*žeravǫ	*žeravě	*žeravy
instrumental	*žeravojǫ, *žeravǫ**	*žeravama	*žeravami
locative	*žeravě	*žeravu	*žeravasъ, *žeravaxъ*
vocative	*žeravo	*žeravě	*žeravy

^* -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).

Related terms

• *žarъ (“glow, heat”)
• *žarъkъ (“hot, scorching”)

Derived terms

• *žeravica (diminutive)
• *žeravъka (diminutive)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: жера́ва (žeráva), жара́ва (žaráva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: жѐрава, же̏равица

    Latin script: žèrava, žerȁva, žȅravica

  • Slovene: žerjȃvica, žerjȃvka (“heartburn”)

Further reading

• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “жерава”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 536
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “žerjȃvica”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *žera̋vъ”