Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/jama

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

If related to Ancient Greek ἄμη (ámē, “shovel, water bucket”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *yā̆m- (“to dig”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

*jàma f

1. pit, hole

Declension

Declension of *jàma (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*jàma	*jàmě	*jàmy
genitive	*jàmy	*jàmu	*jàmъ
dative	*jàmě	*jàmama	*jàmamъ
accusative	*jàmǫ	*jàmě	*jàmy
instrumental	*jàmojǫ, *jàmǭ**	*jàmama	*jàmamī
locative	*jàmě	*jàmu	*jàmasъ, *jàmaxъ*
vocative	*jàmo	*jàmě	*jàmy

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: ꙗма (jama), ама (ama)
    • Old Ruthenian: ꙗ́ма (jáma)
      • Belarusian: я́ма (jáma)
      • Ukrainian: я́ма (jáma)
    • Russian: я́ма (jáma), няма (njama) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: ꙗма (jama)

    Glagolitic script: ⱑⰿⰰ (ěma)

  • Bulgarian: я́ма (jáma)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ја̏ма

    Latin script: jȁma

    • Chakavian (Novi): jȁma
    • Chakavian (Vrgada): jȁma
    • Chakavian (Orbanići): jȁma
    • Kajkavian (Bednja): jȕmo
  • Slovene: jáma (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: jáma
    • Czech: jáma
      • Moravian (Mistřice): jama
  • Polabian: jomo
  • Old Polish:
    • Polish: jama
    • Silesian: jama
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: jóma
    • Slovincian: jãma
  • Old Slovak: jama
    • Pannonian Rusyn: яма (jama) (obsolete)
    • Slovak: jama
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: jаmа
    • Upper Sorbian: jаmа

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “я́ма”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Derksen, Rick (2008), “*àma”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden; Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 28: “f. ā (a) ‘pit, hole’”