Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/životъ

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

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *gīˀwatás, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wotós. Morphologically as if *živъ (“alive”) +‎ *-otъ.

Baltic cognates are Lithuanian gyvatà (“life”) and Old Prussian giwato (“life”).

Indo-European cognates are Latin vīta (from *gʷih₃woteh₂), Sanskrit जीवित (jīvitá, “life”) and Ancient Greek βίοτος (bíotos).

For the semantic association of "belly" with "life", note Proto-Germanic *kweþuz (“belly”), which may be related.

Noun

*živòtъ m

1. life
2. belly

Inflection

Declension of *živòtъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*živòtъ	*životà	*životì
genitive	*životà	*životù	*živòtъ
dative	*životù	*životòma	*životòmъ
accusative	*živòtъ	*životà	*životỳ
instrumental	*životъ̀mь, *životòmь*	*životòma	*živòty
locative	*životě̀	*životù	*živòtěxъ
vocative	*živote	*životà	*životì

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

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: животъ (životŭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: животъ (život)
      • Belarusian: жыво́т (žyvót)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: живо́т (žyvót)
      • Ukrainian: живі́т (žyvít)
    • Russian: живо́т (živót)
    • → Ingrian: siivotta
    • → Karelian:
      • North Karelian: šiivatta
      • South Karelian: žiivatta
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: животъ (životŭ, “life; animal”)

    Glagolitic: ⰶⰹⰲⱁⱅⱏ (životŭ, “life; animal”)

  • Bulgarian: живо́т (živót, “life”)
  • Macedonian: жи́вот (žívot, “life”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: жѝвот (“life”)

    Latin script: žìvot (“life, waist”)

    • Chakavian (Vrgada): živȍt
    • Chakavian (Orbanići): živȍt
    • Kajkavian (Bednja): žēīvȅt
  • Slovene: živòt (“life; body”)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: život
    • Czech: život
      • Moravian (Mistřice): život
  • East Lechitic:
    • Polish: żywot (“life, abdomen”)
    • Silesian: żywot
  • Polabian: zaivăt (“life”)
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: żót (“belly”), żëwòt (“life”)
    • Slovincian: żëwôt
  • Old Slovak: život
    • Pannonian Rusyn: живот (život, “life, entrails, intestines”)
    • Slovak: život (“life, abdomen”)
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: žywot (“belly, body”)
    • Upper Sorbian: žiwot (“belly, body”)

• Non-Slavic:
• → Karelian: šiivatta

Further reading

• Gluhak, Alemko (1993), “životъ”, in Hrvatski etimološki rječnik [Croatian Etymology Dictionary] (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: August Cesarec, →ISBN, page 710
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “живот”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress