Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sěra

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

Origin unclear.

Baltic forms (Lithuanian sierà, Latvian sērs) were likely borrowed from Old East Slavic.

It is unclear whether Old East Slavic цѣрь (cěrĭ, “sulfur”) is related.

Noun

*sěra f

1. sulfur

Declension

Declension of *sěra (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*sěra	*sěrě	*sěry
genitive	*sěry	*sěru	*sěrъ
dative	*sěrě	*sěrama	*sěramъ
accusative	*sěrǫ	*sěrě	*sěry
instrumental	*sěrojǫ, *sěrǫ**	*sěrama	*sěrami
locative	*sěrě	*sěru	*sěrasъ, *sěraxъ*
vocative	*sěro	*sěrě	*sěry

^* -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

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: сѣра (sěra)
    • Belarusian: се́ра (sjéra)
    • Russian: се́ра (séra)
    • Ukrainian: сі́ра (síra)
      • ⇒ Ukrainian: сі́рка (sírka)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: сѣра (sěra)

  • Bulgarian: ся́ра (sjára)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Latin script: sjȅra

    Cyrillic script: сје̏ра

• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: síra
    • Czech: síra
  • ⇒ Kashubian: sarka
  • Old Polish: siara, szara
    • Polish: siara
      • ⇒ Polish: siarka
  • Slovak: síra
    • ⇒ Slovak: sirka
  • Sorbian:
    • ⇒ Lower Sorbian: syrik (literary)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Albanian: serë

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “сера”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress