< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/berza

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed words 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

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *bérˀźas, with a change in gender and inflection, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós. The term refers specially to the genus Betula and was given because of its distinctive white bark. Other kinds of birch were known as *olьxa (“alder”) (also encountered as *elьša in some descendants) because of their brownish bark.

Noun

*bèrza f [1][2][3]

  1. birch

Inflection
Declension of *bèrza (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *bèrza *bèrzě *bèrzy
Accusative *bèrzǫ *bèrzě *bèrzy
Genitive *bèrzy *bèrzu *bèrzъ
Locative *bèrzě *bèrzu *bèrzasъ, *bèrzaxъ*
Dative *bèrzě *bèrzama *bèrzamъ
Instrumental *bèrzojǫ, *bèrzǭ** *bèrzama *bèrzamī
Vocative *bèrzo *bèrzě *bèrzy
* -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

Further reading

References
  1. Derksen, Rick (2008), “*bèrza”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 38: “f. ā (a) ‘birch’”
  2. Olander, Thomas (2001), “berza -y”, in Common Slavic accentological word list, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 155, 177; PR 132; RPT 107, 111)”
  3. Kapović, Mate (2007), “The Development of Proto-Slavic Quantity”, in Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch‎, University of Vienna, page 5: “*be̋rza”
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