Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/berza

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 *bérˀźas, *bérˀźāˀ from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós. The term refers specially to birch species with white bark, like Betula pubescens. Other kinds of birch were known as *olьxa (“alder”) (also encountered as *elьxa in some descendants) because of their brownish bark.

Noun

*bèrza f^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

birch

Inflection

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bèrza	*bèrzě	*bèrzy
genitive	*bèrzy	*bèrzu	*bèrzъ
dative	*bèrzě	*bèrzama	*bèrzamъ
accusative	*bèrzǫ	*bèrzě	*bèrzy
instrumental	bèrzojǫ, bèrzǭ^**	*bèrzama	*bèrzamī
locative	*bèrzě	*bèrzu	bèrzasъ, bèrzaxъ^*
vocative	*bèrzo	*bèrzě	*bèrzy

^* -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).

Derived terms

Related terms

*bersta
- *bersto
*berstěnъ
*berstъ
- *berstika
- *berstikъ
- *berstina
- *berstovъ
- *berstь
- *berstьje

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: береза (bereza)
  - Old Ruthenian: бере́за (beréza), беро́за (beróza) — Middle Belarusian
    - Belarusian: бяро́за (bjaróza)
    - Carpathian Rusyn: бере́за (beréza)
    - Ukrainian: бере́за (beréza)
      - → Yiddish: בערעזע (bereze)
  - Russian: берёза (berjóza)
    - → Yiddish: בעריאָזע (beryoze)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic script: брѣза (brěza)
  
  Glagolitic script: ⰱⱃⱑⰸⰰ (brěza)
  - → Old East Slavic: брѣза (brěza)
- Bulgarian: бреза́ (brezá)
- Macedonian: бреза (breza)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: бре̏за
  
  Latin script: brȅza
- Slovene: brẹ́za (tonal orthography)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: břieza
  - Czech: bříza
    - Moravian (Mistřice): březa
- Polabian: breză
- Polish: brzoza
- Silesian: brzoza
- Slovak: breza
- Pomerian:
  - Kashubian: brzózka
  - Slovincian: brzôza
- Sorbian:
  - Lower Sorbian: brjaza
  - Upper Sorbian: brěza

References

^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*bèrza”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 38: “f. ā (a) ‘birch’”
^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “berza -y”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 155, 177; PR 132; RPT 107, 111)”
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “brẹ́za”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*be̋rza”
^ Kapović, Mate (2007) “The Development of Proto-Slavic Quantity”, in Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch‎^[2], University of Vienna, page 5: “*be̋rza”

[1] Derksen, Rick (2008) “*bèrza”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 38: “f. ā (a) ‘birch’”

[2] Olander, Thomas (2001) “berza -y”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (SA 155, 177; PR 132; RPT 107, 111)”

[3] Snoj, Marko (2016) “brẹ́za”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*be̋rza”

[4] Kapović, Mate (2007) “The Development of Proto-Slavic Quantity”, in Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch‎^[2], University of Vienna, page 5: “*be̋rza”

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