Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ъ
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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
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- *-ь (soft declension)
Etymology 1
[edit]Since mid-19th century two scenarios for the development of Indo-European *-os in Slavic have been proposed, respectively deriving this desinence:
- immediately from Proto-Indo-European *-os with narrowing of the vowel in the final syllable.
- from the accusative, analogically after other stem classes (u- and i-stems), probably to avoid homonymy with the neuter ending *-o.
A variant of the former view first proposed by Zaliznyak, Dybo and Nikolayev holds that IE *-os became *-ə in Slavic, which developed into *-ъ in mainstream dialects but into -е (-je) in Old Novgorodian. In the latter view, the Old Novgorodian ending can be considered original, with generalisation of the front variant from the soft declension.
Some authors also speculated that *-os could have had both outcomes depending on some other factors, with subsequent generalisation of one or the other in different grammatical categories.
Suffix
[edit]*-ъ m
- (diachronic) Nominative singular desinence for masculine o-stems.
- (synchronic) Deverbative, in combination with o-grade of the root, forming nouns of the form *-CoC-ъ.
Usage notes
[edit]- Usually verbs ending in -V- change: i→oj, u/y→ov/av (for a/ě see *-sъ/*-xъ, *-mę)
Declension
[edit]| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *-ъ | *-a | *-i |
| genitive | *-a | *-u | *-ъ |
| dative | *-u | *-oma | *-omъ |
| accusative | *-ъ | *-a | *-y |
| instrumental | *-ъmь, *-omь* | *-oma | *-y |
| locative | *-ě | *-u | *-ěxъ |
| vocative | *-e | *-a | *-i |
* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.
Alternative reconstructions
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- Old Ruthenian: -ъ
- Russian: -ъ — pre-1918 spelling
- Old Novgorodian: -е (-je)
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Bulgarian: -ъ (-ǎ) — Pre-reform orthography (1945)
Etymology 2
[edit]Widely agreed to have been inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-om, itself composed from the thematic vowel *-o- and the accusative singular ending *-m. A small minority of researchers instead argue for an extension of the u-stem ending.
Suffix
[edit]*-ъ
- Accusative singular desinence for masculine o-stems
Descendants
[edit]- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- Old Ruthenian: -ъ
- Russian: -ъ — pre-1918 spelling
- Old Novgorodian: -ъ (-ŭ)
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Bulgarian: -ъ (-ǎ) — Pre-reform orthography (1945)
Etymology 3
[edit]From Proto-Indo-European *-us, itself composed from the final vowel of the stem and the nominative singular ending *-s.
Suffix
[edit]*-ъ
- Nominative singular desinence for masculine u-stems
Descendants
[edit]- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- Old Ruthenian: -ъ
- Russian: -ъ — pre-1918 spelling
- Old Novgorodian: -ъ (-ŭ)
- Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Bulgarian: -ъ (-ǎ) — Pre-reform orthography (1945)
Etymology 4
[edit]From Proto-Indo-European *-um, itself composed from the final vowel of the stem and the accusative singular ending *-m.
Suffix
[edit]*-ъ
- Accusative singular desinence for masculine u-stems
Descendants
[edit]- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Bulgarian: -ъ (-ǎ) — Pre-reform orthography (1945)
Etymology 5
[edit]Two sources have been proposed, depending on the reconstruction of the Indo-European ending:
- Proto-Indo-European *-ōm or *-oHom with some kind of shortening.
- Proto-Indo-European *-om, the supposed athematic genitive plural alongside thematic *-ōm < *-o-om. A variant of this view holds that also thematic stems had *-om without the thematic vowel in Proto-Indo-European.
Proponents of the former view have sometimes connected the neocircumflex intonation in Slovene, the stem short vowel in Czech and the Serbo-Croatian desinence -ā with the alleged Proto-Slavic length.
Suffix
[edit]*-ъ
- Genitive plural desinence for hard stems of all classes.
Descendants
[edit]- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Bulgarian: -ъ (-ǎ) — Pre-reform orthography (1945)
Further reading
[edit]- Vermeer, Willem (1991), “The mysterious North Russian nominative singular ending -е and the problem of the reflex of Indo-European *-os in Slavic”, in Die Welt der Slaven, volume 36, pages 271-295
- Olander, Thomas (2015), Proto-Slavic Inflectional Morphology: A Comparative Handbook, Leiden/Boston: Brill, →ISBN
- Proto-Slavic terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Slavic terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Slavic lemmas
- Proto-Slavic suffixes
- Proto-Slavic inflectional suffixes
- Proto-Slavic noun-forming suffixes
- Proto-Slavic masculine suffixes
- Proto-Slavic hard o-stem nouns
- Proto-Slavic hard masculine o-stem nouns