jezer

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Variant of jezero (“lake”). Possibly inherited from Proto-Slavic *ȅzerъ and cognate to Upper Sorbian jězor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jêzeːr/
  • (Dubrovnik) IPA^(key): /jêd͡zeːr/ ⟨jȅʒēr⟩
• Hyphenation: je‧zer

Noun

jȅzēr m (Cyrillic spelling је̏зе̄р)

1. (archaic, dialectal, Dubrovnik) lake
   • 1592, Fran Lukarević Burina, “Vjerni pastier”, in Sebastijan Žepić, editor, Djela Frana Lukarevića Burine (Stari pisci hrvatski)‎^[3], Zagreb: JAZU, published 1878, page 134, lines 4305-4306:

     Nu blizu jes ovdi
     tih jezer studene i bistre vodice

     But here nearby there's
     a quiet lake of fresh and clear water

   • 1638, Givo Frano Gundulich, Osman‎^[4], pripisan po Stiepu Vize Valovichia, published 1689, page 90 verso:

     bistri iezer oncias sinu

     bistri jezer ončas sinu

     then the clear lake shone

   • 1896, anonymous singer [written down by Niko Ljubidrag], “53. "Cvijet pozlaćeni" [iz Dubrovnika]”, in Ivan Broz, Stjepan Bosanac, editors, Junačke pjesme: Knjiga prva (Hrvatske narodne pjesme; 1)‎^[5], Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, pages 215, 219, lines 130, 297-299:

     Ti priplivaj jezer-vodu hladnu
     [...]
     Nije lako jezer preplivati.
     Koliko je u godini dana,
     Toliko je proždrla junaka

     You swim the cold lake-water
     [...]
     It's not easy to swim the lake.
     How many days there's in a year,
     That's how many heroes it has devoured

2. (archaic, dialectal, Dubrovnik) spring of water
   • 1670, Giono Palmotich, Christiade: to' iest xivot i diela Isukarstova‎^[6], Rim: po Iacobu Maſcardichiu, page 40:

     [...] od raiske kragl darſcauè
     Sladki iezer ſuieh miloſti

     od rajske kralj države
     slatki jezer svijeh milosti

     the king of the heavenly kingdom,
     the sweet spring of all the graces

3. (metonymically, archaic, dialectal) abyss, depth
   • c. 1700, Jerolim Kavańin, edited by Josip Aranza, Poviest vanđelska bogatoga a nesrećna Epuluna i ubogoga a čestita Lazara (Stari pisci hrvatski)‎^[7], Zagreb: JAZU, published 1913, XXVIII, 103., page 507:

     pri neg vode sve provriše,
     pri neg jezer, sunce mielo,
     more, nebo i svit biše

     before all the waters started to flow,
     before the abyss, the sweet sun,
     the sea, the sky and the world existed

Usage notes

• usually found in Dubrovnik dialect, where it was used alongside jezero (attested by Budmani in late 19th century, but only jezero by Ligorio in 2010)

Declension

Declension of jezer

	singular	plural
nominative	jȅzēr	jȅzeri
genitive	jȅzera	jezérā
dative	jȅzeru	jezèrima
accusative	jȅzēr	jȅzere
vocative	jȅzere	jȅzeri
locative	jezèru	jezèrima
instrumental	jȅzerom	jezèrima