Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mogyla

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

*pogrebalьna(ja) *mogyla (sketch)

Alternative forms

• *gomyla

Etymology

Probably from a substrate language, akin to Albanian gamulë, magulë and Romanian movilă, moghilă, măgură, măgulă, Aromanian mãgulã. Miklošič, Brückner (followed by Vasmer et al.) however do not exclude an autochthonous origin akin to Proto-Slavic *moťьje pl (“relics, holy remains”) (from an earlier *mogtьje).

Per St. Mladenov, if the regional metathesized forms reflecting *gomyla are primary, a descent from Proto-Indo-European *gem- (“to seize, to take hold, to squeeze”) could also be possible. The later forms may have been influenced by Proto-Slavic *gomola (“lump, clod”), though. Compare Lithuanian gãmalas, gãmulas m (“chunk”), gamulà f (“bulge”).

Noun

*mogỳla f

1. hill, mound
2. burial mound, kurgan

Declension

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mogyla	*mogylě	*mogyly
genitive	*mogyly	*mogylu	*mogylъ
dative	*mogylě	*mogylama	*mogylamъ
accusative	*mogylǫ	*mogylě	*mogyly
instrumental	*mogylojǫ, *mogylǭ**	*mogylama	*mogylamī
locative	*mogylě	*mogylu	*mogylasъ, *mogylaxъ*
vocative	*mogylo	*mogylě	*mogyly

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *mogylistъ (“hillocky”)
• *mogylьnъ (“burial”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: могꙑла (mogyla)
    • Belarusian: магі́ла (mahíla)
    • Russian: моги́ла (mogíla)
    • Ukrainian: моги́ла (mohýla)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: могꙑла (mogyla)
    • → Bulgarian: моги́ла (mogíla)
  • Bulgarian: гоми́ла (gomíla) (dialectal)
  • Macedonian: мо́гила (mógila)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: го̀мила (with metathesis)

    Latin: gòmila (with metathesis)

  • Slovene: gomíla (tonal orthography) (with metathesis)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: mohyla
  • Polabian: müďålă
  • Polish: mogiła
  • Slovak: mohyla
• Non-Slavic:
  • → Lithuanian: mogila

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “могила”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*mogyla”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 19 (*męs⁽'⁾arь – *morzakъ), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 115
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., Duridanov, I. V., editors (1995), “могила”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 4 (мѝнго² – па̀дам), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 196