Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ařь

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 Gothic -𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (-āreis), from Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz or from Latin -ārius. Proto-Slavic borrowed from Gothic both the derivations (e.g. *mytařь (“tax collector”) and *bukařь (“scribe, literate man”)) and their base forms (*myto (“payment, gift”) and *buky (“beech; record; document”) which enabled synchronic morphological segmentation of the borrowed denominals and finally an analogical generalization of the *-ařь suffix for forming other denominal nouns with agentive meaning, on the basis of non-borrowed nominal stems (e.g. *kľučařь on the basis of *kľučь, *zidařь on the basis of *zidъ).

Suffix

*-ařь m

1. -er; derives agent nouns, signifying someone who is connected to something, often by trade or profession.
   1. from nouns

      ‎*myto + ‎*-ařь → ‎*mytařь

      ‎*buky + ‎*-ařь → ‎*bukařь

      ‎*ryba + ‎*-ařь → ‎*rybařь

      ‎*kľučь + ‎*-ařь → ‎*kľučařь

   2. from verbs (the present stem)

      ‎*vold- + ‎*-ařь → ‎*voldařь

Declension

Declension of *-ařь (soft o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-ařь	*-ařa	*-aři
genitive	*-ařa	*-ařu	*-ařь
dative	*-ařu	*-ařema	*-ařemъ
accusative	*-ařь	*-ařa	*-ařę̇
instrumental	*-ařьmь, *-ařemь*	*-ařema	*-aři
locative	*-aři	*-ařu	*-ařixъ
vocative	*-ařu	*-ařa	*-aři

^* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-ařь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: -арь (-arĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: -аръ (-ar)
      • Belarusian: -ар (-ar)
      • Ukrainian: -ар (-ar)
    • Russian: -арь (-arʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: -ар҄ь (-arʹĭ)

    Glagolitic script: [Term?]

  • Bulgarian: -ар (-ar)
  • Macedonian: -ар (-ar)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: -ар

    Latin script: -ar

  • Slovene: -ar
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: -ář
  • Kashubian: -ôrz
  • Polabian: -ăr
  • Polish: -arz
  • Slovak: -ár
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: -aŕ
    • Upper Sorbian: -ar

Further reading

• Šekli, Matej (2012) “Besedotvorni pomeni samostalniških izpeljank v praslovanščini”, in Philological Studies‎^[1] (in Slovene), volume 10, number 1, Skopje, Perm, Ljubljana, Zagreb, pages 115–32