Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/navь

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 *nā́ˀwis, from Proto-Indo-European *neh₂w-. Cognate with Latvian nāve (“death”), nāvēt (“to kill”), Lithuanian nõvis (“death”), Old Prussian nowis (“body, flesh”). Indo-European cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌿𐍃 (naus, “dead body, corpse”), Old Irish núna (“hunger”) and Tocharian B naut- (“to disappear; be destroyed”).

Noun

*navь f

1. corpse
2. deceased

Inflection

Declension of *navь (i-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*navь	*navi	*navi
genitive	*navi	*navьju, *navľu*	*navьjь, *navi*
dative	*navi	*navьma	*navьmъ
accusative	*navь	*navi	*navi
instrumental	*navьjǫ, *navľǫ*	*navьma	*navьmi
locative	*navi	*navьju, *navľu*	*navьxъ
vocative	*navi	*navi	*navi

^* 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).

Derived terms

• *naviti
• *navьnъ
• *navьka
• *navьskъ
• *navьje

Related terms

• *natь (according to Machek)
• *nyti

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: навь (navĭ), навье (navĭje)
    • Russian: навь (navʹ); навной (navnoj), намной (namnoj)
    • Ukrainian: нявка (njavka), мавка (mavka); Навський Великдень (Navsʹkyj Velykdenʹ, “Pentecost”)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: навь (navĭ)
  • Bulgarian: нави (navi) (plural only)
  • Macedonian: нави (navi) (plural only)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: на̑в, на̑вье

    Latin script: nȃv, nȃvje

  • Slovene: nȃv, nȃvje
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: náv
  • Polish: nawia, nawka
  • Slovak: náva, nava, nav

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “навь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1997), “*navь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 24 (*navijati (sę)/*navivati (sę) – *nerodimъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 49