< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ъ

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
  • *-ь (soft declension)

Etymology 1

Since mid-19th century two scenarios for the development of Indo-European *-os in Slavic have been proposed, respectively deriving this desinence:

  • immediately from Proto-Indo-European *-os with narrowing of the vowel in the final syllable.
  • from the accusative, analogically after other stem classes (u- and i-stems), probably to avoid homonymy with the neuter ending *-o.

A variant of the former view first proposed by Zaliznyak, Dybo and Nikolayev holds that IE *-os became *-ə in Slavic, which developed into *-ъ in mainstream dialects but into -е (-e) in Old Novgorodian. In the latter view, the Old Novgorodian ending can be considered original, with generalisation of the front variant from the soft declension.

Some authors also speculated that *-os could have had both outcomes depending on some other factors, with subsequent generalisation of one or the other in different grammatical categories.

Alternative reconstructions
  • *-ə

Suffix

*-ъ m

  1. (diachronic) Nominative singular desinence for masculine o-stems.
  2. (synchronic) Deverbative, in combination with o-grade of the root, forming nouns of the form *-CoC-ъ.
    *poteťi (“to elapse; start flowing”) → *potokъ (“brook, stream”)
    *teťi (“to flow (liquid); run (time) etc.”) → *tokъ (“flow, stream”)
    *gňiti (“to rot”) → *gnojь (“pus”)
    *vezti (“to drive, take, carry”) → *vozъ (“cart, wagon”)
Declension
Declension of *-ъ (hard o-stem)
singular dual plural
nominative *-ъ *-a *-i
genitive *-a *-u *-ъ
dative *-u *-oma *-omъ
accusative *-ъ *-a *-y
instrumental *-ъmь, *-omь* *-oma *-y
locative *-ě *-u *-ěxъ
vocative *-e *-a *-i
* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.
Usage notes
  • Usually verbs ending in -V- change: i→oj, u/y→ov/av (for a/ě see *-sъ/*-xъ, *-mę)
  • *-o (“ending for hypocoristic masculine names”) (argued to be the "real" reflex of PIE *-os)
Derived terms
Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-ъ
Descendants
  • East Slavic:
    • Old East Slavic: -ъ (-ŭ)
    • Old Novgorodian: -ъ (-ŭ), -е (-e)
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: -ъ (-ŭ)
      Glagolitic script: -ⱏ (-ŭ)

Etymology 2

Widely agreed to have been inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-om, itself composed from the thematic vowel *-o- and the accusative singular ending *-m. A small minority of researches instead argued for an extension of the u-stem ending.

Suffix

*-ъ

  1. Accusative singular desinence for masculine o-stems
Descendants
  • East Slavic:
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: -ъ (-ŭ)
      Glagolitic script: -ⱏ (-ŭ)

Etymology 3

From Proto-Indo-European *-us, itself composed from the final vowel of the stem and the nominative singular ending *-s.

Suffix

*-ъ

  1. Nominative singular desinence for masculine u-stems
Descendants
  • East Slavic:
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: -ъ (-ŭ)
      Glagolitic script: -ⱏ (-ŭ)

Etymology 4

From Proto-Indo-European *-um, itself composed from the final vowel of the stem and the accusative singular ending *-m.

Suffix

*-ъ

  1. Accusative singular desinence for masculine u-stems
Descendants
  • East Slavic:
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: -ъ (-ŭ)
      Glagolitic script: -ⱏ (-ŭ)

Etymology 5

Two sources have been proposed, depending on the reconstruction of the Indo-European ending:

  • Proto-Indo-European *-ōm or *-oHom with some kind of shortening.
  • Proto-Indo-European *-om, the supposed athematic genitive plural alongside thematic *-ōm < *-o-om. A variant of this view holds that also thematic stems had *-om without the thematic vowel in Proto-Indo-European.

Proponents of the former view have sometimes connected the neocircumflex intonation in Slovene, the stem short vowel in Czech and the Serbo-Croatian desinence -ā with the alleged Proto-Slavic length.

Suffix

*-ъ

  1. Genitive plural desinence for hard stems of all classes.
Descendants
  • East Slavic:
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: -ъ (-ŭ)
      Glagolitic script: -ⱏ (-ŭ)

Further reading
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