Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.21857/mjrl3ug2v9

Proto-Slavic i-stem noun *ǫžь ‘snake’

Metka Furlan orcid.org/0000-0001-7531-6489

Abstract

From the Slavic material, only the thematic masculine noun *(g/)-žь m., gen. *-ǫž ‘snake’ (AP b) can be reconstructed at the Proto-Slavic linguistic level – e.g., Čakavian Cro. uõš m., gen. uožȁ ‘a kind of black snake’ (Orbanići), Rus. úž, gen. užá ‘snake’ – although external comparative evidence in Lith. angìs f. and Lat. anguis m., f. points to the existence of the PIE i-stem noun *H2engh-i- ‘snake’. A more detailed analysis of Slovenian historical dictionaries from the eighteenth century onward and more recent Croatian and Slovene dialect sources indicate the feminine i-stem noun *žь, gen. *ži (AP c): a) Sln. voš f. ‘snake; Aesculapian snake’ (Janežič 1851), vóſh ‘snake’ (Murko 1833), voſh ‘snake’ (Gutsman 1789), vôsh f., gen. -y ‘(water) snake’ (Pohlin 1781); ˈgọ:š f., gen. -žə ‘Aesculapian snake’ (Weiss 1998); slepavåuš f., gen. -i ‘grass snake’ (Mukič 2005); b) Cro. slˈepa vˈouš f., gen. slˈepe vˈouš ‘blindworm’ (Blažeka & Rob 2014). Based on external evidence, whereby the PIE i-stem noun *H2engh-i-s ‘snake’ appears elsewhere only as feminine (Lith. angìs) or as feminine and masculine (Lat. anguis), the relationship between the i-stem feminine noun and the thematic masculine noun permits the conclusion that the Proto-Slavic i-stem noun was originally of both grammatical genders. The elimination from the system of the few masculine i-stem nouns still directly attested today, especially those that did not denote persons of natural male gender, caused the Proto-Slavic i-stem stem to be restructured into a thematic one, as happened with the noun for ‘fire’ *ognь → *ògn’ь: PIE *H2engh-i-s m., f. > PSl. *ǫžь m., f., gen. *ǫži → PSl. *žь f., *ži (AP c) → PSl. *žь m., gen. *ǫž (AP b). South Slavic initial *g- arose from *- through phonetic development via the intermediate stage*g-, which was already presumed by Ramovš (1924) in the development *- > *g-. The basic seme of the Slavic reflexes of the phonetic variants *žь, *žь, and *gžь is ‘snake’, which is consistent with external evidence because Lith. angìs and Lat. anguis show the same central seme. This allows the meaning ‘snake’ to be reconstructed for Proto-Slavic *žь and *žь, and the meanings in individual Slavic languages – ‘Aesculapian snake’ (Zamenis longissimus); grass snake (Natrix natrix); slow worm (Anguis fragilis) – are therefore secondary semantic specializations.

Keywords

Slovenian, Croatian, Proto-Slavic, Proto-Slavic lexicon, snake, Zamenis longissimus, Natrix natrix, Anguis fragilis

Hrčak ID:

306260

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/306260

Publication date:

19.7.2023.

Article data in other languages: slovenian croatian

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