Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žьrtva

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

Etymology

From *žьrti (“to sacrifice”) +‎ *-tva, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *girʔ-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH-.

Noun

*žьrtva f

1. sacrifice

Declension

Declension of *žьrtva (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žьrtva	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy
genitive	*žьrtvy	*žьrtvu	*žьrtvъ
dative	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvama	*žьrtvamъ
accusative	*žьrtvǫ	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy
instrumental	*žьrtvojǫ, *žьrtvǫ**	*žьrtvama	*žьrtvami
locative	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvu	*žьrtvasъ, *žьrtvaxъ*
vocative	*žьrtvo	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy

^* -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).

Related terms

• *gornъ
• *žьrьcь (“priest”)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: жрьтва (žrĭtva)

    Glagolitic script: ⰶⱃⱐⱅⰲⰰ (žrĭtva)

    • → Old East Slavic: жрьтва (žrĭtva)
      • → Polish: żertwa
    • → Russian: же́ртва (žértva)
      • → Bulgarian: же́ртва (žértva)
      • → Czech: žertva
    • → Ukrainian: же́ртва (žértva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: жр̏тва

    Latin script: žȑtva

  • Slovene: žrtva
• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: jertfă

References

• Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 566
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “жертва”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress