Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ьba

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

Originally the suffix proper is *-ba, with *-ь and *-o abstracted from i- and o-stem basewords, respectively. Sometimes the original abstract noun in *-ь is still preserved, e.g.

• *bornь (“defense; fight; dispute”) → *bornьba
• *rězь (“cut, cutting”) → *rězьba

Further, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *-ba, from Proto-Indo-European *-bʰo-, *-bʰeh₂ found in nouns and adjectives.

Cognate with Lithuanian -ýba, -ỹbė and Latvian -ība.

Suffix

*-ьba f

1. Forms action nouns from verbs.

   *družьba (“company”) ⇐ *družiti sę (“to socialize, get together”) ⇐ *drugъ

   *služьba (“service, serving”) ⇐ *služiti (“to serve”) ⇐ *sluga

   *gǫdьba (“band”) ⇐ *gǫsti (“to play a string instrument”) < *gǫdti

Declension

Declension of *-ьba (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-ьba	*-ьbě	*-ьby
genitive	*-ьby	*-ьbu	*-ьbъ
dative	*-ьbě	*-ьbama	*-ьbamъ
accusative	*-ьbǫ	*-ьbě	*-ьby
instrumental	*-ьbojǫ, *-ьbǫ**	*-ьbama	*-ьbami
locative	*-ьbě	*-ьbu	*-ьbasъ, *-ьbaxъ*
vocative	*-ьbo	*-ьbě	*-ьby

^* -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).

Usage notes

• Usually derived from verbs ending in -i- and rarely from verbs ending in -C-
• Usually it's not used with roots ending in b/p/v/m (see *-ьda, *-ežь).

Alternative forms

• *-oba?
• *-ьda (in *pravьda, *prěmьda, *krivьda, *voržьda, *bajьda)

See also

• *-tva

Derived terms

Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-ьba

Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-ьda

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: -ьба (-ĭba)
    • Belarusian: -ба (-ba)
    • Russian: -ьба (-ʹba), -ба (-ba)
    • Ukrainian: -ьба (-ʹba), -ба (-ba)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: -ьба (-ĭba)

    Glagolitic script: -ⱐⰱⰰ (-ĭba)

  • Bulgarian: -ба (-ba)
  • Macedonian: -ба (-ba)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: -ба

    Latin script: -ba

  • Slovene: -ba
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: -ba
  • Polish: -ba
  • Slovak: -ba
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: -ba
    • Lower Sorbian: -ba

Further reading

• Šekli, Matej (2012) “Besedotvorni pomeni samostalniških izpeljank v praslovanščini”, in Philological Studies‎^[1] (in Slovene), volume 10, number 1, Skopje, Perm, Ljubljana, Zagreb, pages 115–32
• Halla-aho, Jussi (2006) Problems of Proto-Slavic Historical Nominal Morphology: On the Basis of Old Church Slavic (Slavica Helsingiensia; 26), Helsinki: University of Helsinki, page 86f
• Osten-Sacken, W. Frhr. v. d. (1909), Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Nomina auf slavisch -ьba, litauisch -ýbas -ýba -ỹbė, lettisch -ība, Indogermanische Forschungen 26, 307-324
• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1974), “*-ьba”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volumes 1 (a – bьzděti), Wrocław: Ossolineum, page 61
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1985), “*krivьda”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 12 (*koulъkъ – *kroma/*kromъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 175
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*bajьda”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 140