Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/melstva

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

Alternative forms

• *melstvъ

Etymology

From *melsti +‎ *-tva. Cognate with Lithuanian milžtuvė̃ (“milk pail”).

Noun

*melstva f

1. milking
2. colostrum
3. milk pail/vessel

Synonyms

1. *mьlzenьje
2. *melzivo

Inflection

Declension of *melstva (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*melstva	*melstvě	*melstvy
genitive	*melstvy	*melstvu	*melstvъ
dative	*melstvě	*melstvama	*melstvamъ
accusative	*melstvǫ	*melstvě	*melstvy
instrumental	*melstvojǫ, *melstvǫ**	*melstvama	*melstvami
locative	*melstvě	*melstvu	*melstvasъ, *melstvaxъ*
vocative	*melstvo	*melstvě	*melstvy

^* -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: молостовъ (molostovŭ)
    • Russian: молосто́в (molostóv)
• South Slavic:
  • Slovene: mlȇstva, mletva, mlȇtva, mletev

References

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*melztva/*melztvъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 96