Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bezdъna

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 *bez- (“without”) +‎ *dъno (“bottom”) +‎ *-a. Compare Ancient Greek ἄβυσσος (ábussos), Sanskrit अगाध (agādha, “fathomless; abyss, chasm”) for a similar formation.

Noun

*bezdъna f

1. abyss

Inflection

Declension of *bezdъna (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bezdъna	*bezdъně	*bezdъny
genitive	*bezdъny	*bezdъnu	*bezdъnъ
dative	*bezdъně	*bezdъnama	*bezdъnamъ
accusative	*bezdъnǫ	*bezdъně	*bezdъny
instrumental	*bezdъnojǫ, *bezdъnǫ**	*bezdъnama	*bezdъnami
locative	*bezdъně	*bezdъnu	*bezdъnasъ, *bezdъnaxъ*
vocative	*bezdъno	*bezdъně	*bezdъny

^* -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

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: бездъна (bezdŭna), бездьна (bezdĭna), бездна (bezdna)
    • Belarusian: бе́зма (bjézma) (dialectal)
    • Russian: бе́здна (bézdna)
    • Ukrainian: бе́зна (bézna) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: бездъна (bezdŭna)

    Glagolitic script: ⰱⰵⰸⰴⱏⱀⰰ (bezdŭna)

  • Bulgarian: бе́здна (bézdna)
  • Macedonian: бездна (bezdna)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бѐздан

    Latin script: bèzdan

  • Slovene: brézno (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: bezdna
  • Polish: bezdna, bezdnia, bezednia, bezdeń

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: beznă (“pitch-black”)

References

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*bezdъbna”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 21
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “бе́здна”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress