Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ale

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

ESSJa reconstructs a compound conjunction *a (“however”) +‎ *le, invented on native soil. Attested mainly in Western Slavic. Alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos (“other”) (expected would be **oľe), which Trubachev refutes.

In Bulgarian, there exists a conjunction ала (ala, “however”), which is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλλά (allá).

Conjunction

*ale

1. but, however

   Synonym: *nъ (East Slavic, Eastern South Slavic)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old Ruthenian: але́ (alé) (possibly influenced by Polish)
    • Belarusian: але́ (aljé)
    • Ukrainian: але́ (alé)
• South Slavic:
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: а̏ле, а̏ли

    Latin script: ȁle, ȁli

• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: ale, aľe (alternative writing)
    • Czech: ale
  • Old Polish: ale
    • Polish: ale
    • Silesian: ale
  • Old Slovak: ale
    • Pannonian Rusyn: алє (alje)
    • Slovak: ale
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: ale
    • Slovincian: alê
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: ale
    • Lower Sorbian: ale

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*a le”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 37
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “ала¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 8