Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/golva

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 *galˀwā́ˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *gelH-.

Noun

*golvà f

1. head
2. (dialectal, North Slavic) murder, killed person

Inflection

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*golvà	*gȏlvě	*gȏlvy
genitive	*golvý	*golvù	*gõlvъ
dative	*golvě̀	*golvàma	*golvàmъ
accusative	*gȏlvǫ	*gȏlvě	*gȏlvy
instrumental	*golvojǫ́	*golvàma	*golvàmi
locative	*gȏlvě	*golvù	*golvàsъ, *golvàxъ*
vocative	*golvo	*gȏlvě	*gȏlvy

^* -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.

Derived terms

• *golvьnъ (adj.)
  • *golvьnikъ (“householder, leader, (dialectal) killer”)
• *golvica (“head”) (diminutive)
• *golvišče (“head”) (augmentative)
• *golvatъ, *golvačь (“big-head”)
• *golvitъ (“main, capital”)
• *golvъka (“head of an instrument”)
• *golvina (augmentative)
• *agolvo (“kill, killed”)
• *golvъ (“headed”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: голова (golova, “head, killed person”)
    • Old Ruthenian: голова (holova)
      • Belarusian: галава́ (halavá)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: го́лова (hólova)
      • Ukrainian: голова́ (holová)
    • Russian: голова́ (golová)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: глава (glava)
    • Bulgarian: глава́ (glavá)
    • Macedonian: гла́ва (gláva)
    • → Old East Slavic: глава (glava)
      • Old Ruthenian: глава (hlava)
        • Carpathian Rusyn: глава́ (hlavá)
        • Ukrainian: глава́ (hlavá)
      • Russian: глава́ (glavá)
  • Serbo-Croatian: гла́ва, gláva
  • Slovene: gláva (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: hlava, hłava
    • Czech: hlava
  • Old Polish: głowa
    • Masurian: głowa
    • Polish: głowa
    • Silesian: gowa, głowa
    • → Old Ruthenian: кглова (glova), глова (hlova)
  • Polabian: glåvă
  • Old Slovak:
    • Pannonian Rusyn: глава (hlava)
    • Slovak: hlava
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: głowa
    • Slovincian: glôwa
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: hłowa
    • Lower Sorbian: głowa

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1979), “*golva”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 6 (*e – *golva), Moscow: Nauka, page 221
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “голова”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress