Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ostь

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed words 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

Alternative forms

• (after soft, palatal consonants): *-estь

Etymology

There are several theories of origin:

• Cognate with Hittite [script needed] (-ašti) (in [script needed] n (dalugašti-, “length”) < [script needed] pl (dalugaeš, “long”, adj.)).
• According to Halla-Aho, by double suffixation */-ot-tь/. e.g. *dobrъ → *dobrota → *dobrostь

Suffix

*-ostь f

1. Used with adjectival stems to form abstract nouns; -ness

   *čistъ → *čistostь

   *junъ → *junostь

   *mǫdrъ → *mǫdrostь

   *radъ → *radostь

   *starъ → *starostь

Declension

Declension of *-ostь (i-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*-ostь	*-osti	*-osti
Accusative	*-ostь	*-osti	*-osti
Genitive	*-osti	*-ostьju, *-osťu*	*-ostьjь, *-osti*
Locative	*-osti	*-ostьju, *-osťu*	*-ostьxъ
Dative	*-osti	*-ostьma	*-ostьmъ
Instrumental	*-ostьjǫ, *-osťǫ*	*-ostьma	*-ostьmi
Vocative	*-osti	*-osti	*-osti

^* 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

This suffix was used after hard consonants, as opposed to the variant form *-estь that was used with stems ending in a soft, palatal consonant.

Derived terms

► Proto-Slavic words suffixed with *-ostь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: -асць (-ascʹ) (unstressed), -осць (-oscʹ) (stressed) (obsolete spellings: -асьць (-asʹcʹ)/-осьць (-osʹcʹ))
  • Russian: -ость (-ostʹ)
  • Ukrainian: -ість (-istʹ) (genitive: -ості (-osti))
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: -ость (-ostĭ)

    Glagolitic: -ⱁⱄⱅⱐ (-ostĭ)

  • Bulgarian: -ост (-ost)
  • Macedonian: -ост (-ost)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: -ост

    Latin: -ost

  • Slovene: -ost
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: -ost
  • Polish: -ość
  • Slovak: -osť

References

• Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz (2002), Indo-European abstracta ending with -osti-: the Ossetic evidence, Lingua Posnaniensis 44, p. 175-179
• Vaillant, André (1974), Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, tome IV. Paris, p. 373-377
• Arumaa, Peeter (1985), Urslavische Grammatik, Band III. Heidelberg. p. 46
• Birnbaum, Henrik & Jos Schaeken (1997) Das altkirchenslavische Wort: Bildung - Bedeutung - Herleitung. (Slavistische Beiträge, 348.) München. p.50
• Halla-aho, Jussi (2006) Problems of Proto-Slavic Historical Nominal Morphology: On the Basis of Old Church Slavic (Slavica Helsingiensia; 26)‎^[1], Helsinki: University of Helsinki, page 51
• Trubačev O. N., editor (1978), “*dьlgostь”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ slavjanskix jazykov [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in ru), volume 05, Moscow: Nauka, page 207