Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/olsь

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 Proto-Balto-Slavic *alśis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ól-ḱ-is ~ h₁él-ḱ-is, from *h₁el- (“deer”). Cognate with English elk.

Noun

*ȏlsь m

1. (North Slavic) elk (British), moose (U.S.)

Declension

The word is only attested as a soft o-stem in the descendants, but the lack of both iotation and the progressive palatalization point to an original i-stem paradigm.

Declension of *ȏlsь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*ȏlsь	*ȏlsi	*ȏlsьjē, *ȏlšē*
genitive	*olsí	*olsьjù, *olšu*	*olsь̀jь
dative	*ȏlsi	*olsьmà	*ȏlsьmъ
accusative	*ȏlsь	*ȏlsi	*ȏlsi
instrumental	*ȏlsьmь	*olsьmà	*olsьmì
locative	*olsí	*olsьjù, *olšu*	*ȏlsьxъ
vocative	*olsi	*ȏlsi	*ȏlsьjē, *ȏlšē*

^* 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: лось (losĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: лось (losʹ), лѡсь (lôsʹ), лосъ (los)
      • Belarusian: лось (losʹ); лусь (lusʹ), лэсь (lesʹ) (dialectal)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: лось (losʹ)
      • Ukrainian: лось (losʹ)
    • Russian: лось (losʹ)
      • → Bulgarian: лос (los)
      • → Macedonian: лос (los)
      • → Serbo-Croatian:

        Cyrillic script: ло̏с

        Latin script: lȍs

      • → Slovene: lọ̑s (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: los
    • Czech: los
  • Old Polish: łoś
    • Polish: łoś
  • Old Slovak: los
    • Pannonian Rusyn: лос (los)
    • Slovak: los
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: łos
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: łos
    • Upper Sorbian: łós

Further reading

• Trubachyov, O., Zhuravlyov, A. F., editors (2005), “*olsь/*olsъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 32 (*obžьnъ – *orzbotati), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 79
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “лось”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress