Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/blъxa

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 *blúšāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlúseh₂.

Noun

*blъxà f

1. flea

Inflection

Declension of *blъxà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*blъxà	*blъ̀śě	*blъxỳ
Accusative	*blъxǫ̀	*blъ̀śě	*blъxỳ
Genitive	*blъxỳ	*blъxù	*blъ̀xъ
Locative	*blъśě̀	*blъxù	*blъxàsъ, *blъxàxъ*
Dative	*blъśě̀	*blъxàma	*blъxàmъ
Instrumental	*blъxòjǫ, *blъ̀xǫ**	*blъxàma	*blъxàmī
Vocative	*blъxo	*blъ̀śě	*blъxỳ

^* -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).

Descendants

• Church Slavonic: блъха (blŭxa) (Russian)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: блъха (blŭxa), блоха (bloxa), бълоха (bŭloxa)
    • Belarusian: блыха́ (blyxá)
    • Russian: блоха́ (bloxá)
    • Ukrainian: блоха́ (bloxá)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: бълха́ (bǎlhá)
  • Macedonian: болва (bolva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бу̀ва

    Latin script: bùha, bùva

  • Slovene: bółha (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: blcha
    • Czech: blecha
  • Polabian: blåxă
  • Kashubian: błëcha
  • Polish: pchła
  • Silesian: błecha
  • Slovak: blcha
  • Slovincian: pχlȧ̃
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: pcha, bcha
    • Upper Sorbian: pcha

• → Hungarian: bolha

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “блоха”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress, pages 176–177
• “blusa”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*blъxa”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 129
• Gluhak, Alemko (1993) Hrvatski etimološki rječnik (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: August Cesarec, page 155f
• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1974), “*blъxa”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 1 (a – bьzděti), Wrocław: National Ossoliński Institute, page 273