Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žegъzica

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 *žegъza (“cuckoo”) +‎ *-ica.

Noun

*žegъzica f

1. cuckoo

Declension

Declension of *žegъzica (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žegъzica	*žegъzici	*žegъzicę̇
genitive	*žegъzicę̇	*žegъzicu	*žegъzicь
dative	*žegъzici	*žegъzicama	*žegъzicamъ
accusative	*žegъzicǫ	*žegъzici	*žegъzicę̇
instrumental	*žegъzicejǫ, *žegъzicǫ**	*žegъzicama	*žegъzicami
locative	*žegъzici	*žegъzicu	*žegъzicasъ, *žegъzicaxъ*
vocative	*žegъzice	*žegъzici	*žegъzicę̇

^* -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

nouns

• *žegъzuľa f (“cuckoo”)

 

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: зегъзица (zegŭzica), зогъзица (zogŭzica)
    • Ukrainian: зигзи́ця (zyhzýcja); зегзи́ця (zehzýcja) (dialectal)
    • Russian: зегзи́ца (zegzíca)

Further reading

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1985), “зозу́ля”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volume 2 (Д – Копці), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, page 274
• Martynaŭ, V. U., editor (1985), “зязю́ля”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), volumes 3 (га! – інчэ́), Minsk: Navuka i technika, page 356