Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žely

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

Alternative reconstructions

• *žьlỳ

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰelu-, *gʰelew- ,*gʰelōw- (“tortoise, turtle-like animals”). Compare Ancient Greek χέλῡς (khélūs, “tortoise”).

Noun

*želỳ f

1. turtle, tortoise

Inflection

Declension of *želỳ (v-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*želỳ	*želъ̀vi	*želъ̀vi
genitive	*želъ̀ve	*želъ̀vu	*želъ̀vъ
dative	*želъ̀vi	*želъ̀vьma, *želъ̀vama*	*želъ̀vьmъ, *želъ̀vamъ*
accusative	*želъ̀vь	*želъ̀vi	*želъ̀vi
instrumental	*želъ̀vьjǫ, *želъ̀vľǭ**	*želъ̀vьma, *želъ̀vama*	*želъ̀vьmī, *želъ̀vamī*
locative	*želъ̀ve	*želъ̀vu	*želъ̀vьxъ, *želъ̀vaxъ*
vocative	*želỳ	*želъ̀vi	*želъ̀vi

^* -ьmъ/etc. are the original consonant-stem endings, while -amъ/etc. are later Common Slavic endings formed by analogy with a-stems.
^** 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: желꙑ (žely), жьлꙑ (žĭly), желъвь (želŭvĭ), желъва (želŭva)
    • Middle Russian: желвь (želvʹ), желва (želva), жолва (žolva)
      • Russian: желвь (želvʹ), жолвь (žolvʹ) (dialectal, obsolete)
    • Old Ruthenian: желвъ (želv), жолвъ (žolv), желва (želva)
      • Ukrainian: желв (želv) (dialectal, obsolete)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: *желꙑ (*žely), жьлꙑ (žĭly)

    • Church Slavonic: желꙑ (žely) (Russian recension)
    • Bulgarian: же́лва (žélva), жъ́лва (žǎ́lva) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: же̑лва̄

    Latin script: žȇlvā

    ⇒ Cyrillic script: желка, же̏љка

    ⇒ Latin script: želka, žȅljka

  • Slovene: žẹ̑lva (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: želva
  • Old Polish: żółw, żełw
    • Polish: żółw
    • Silesian: żōłw
    • → Old Ruthenian: жулвъ (žulv)
  • Slovak: želva
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: žołw
    • Upper Sorbian: želwja, žołwja

Further reading

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1985), “желв”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volumes 2 (Д – Копці), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, page 192
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “желва¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 532
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “žẹ̑lva”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si