кеи

Old Novgorodian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *kъjь (“which”), from *kъ (“who”) + *jь (“this”), derived from Proto-Balto-Slavic *kas, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷós (“who”). First attested in c. 1140‒1160. By surface analysis, *ке (*ke) +‎ и (i). Cognate with Old East Slavic къи (kŷi), кꙑи (kyi), Old Ruthenian кой (koj), кїй (kij), Old Church Slavonic кꙑи (kyi), Old Polish ki, Old Czech ký.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ке‧и

Pronoun

кеи • (kei)

1. (hapax) who, which

   Synonym: кето (keto)

   • c. 1140‒1160, Берестяная грамота № 1012 [Birchbark letter no. 1012]‎^[1], Novgorod:

     … [:] (а) [къи] н[и е] …

     … [:] (a) [kŷi] n[i je] …

     … and who doesn't …

Declension

Declension of кеи (soft pronominal)

	singular			dual			plural
	masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative	кеь keĭ	кее keje	кеа kea	кеа kea	кеи kei		кеи kei	кеа kea	кеѣ kejě
genitive	кеего kejego		кееѣ kejejě	кеею kejeju			кеихъ keixŭ
dative	кеемоу kejemu		кееи kejei	кеима keima			кеимъ keimŭ
accusative	кеь keĭ	кее keje	кеѫ keǫ	кеа kea	кеи kei		кеѣ kejě	кеа kea	кеѣ kejě
instrumental	кеимь keimĭ		кееѭ kejejǫ	кеима keima			кеими keimi
locative	кеемь kejemĭ		кееи kejei	кеею kejeju			кеихъ keixŭ

Related terms

(pronoun):

• кето (keto)
• никеи (nikei)
• цьто (ćĭto)

Further reading

• “кеи”, in Берестяные грамоты – Национальный корпус русского языка [Birchbark Letters – Russian National Corpus], https://ruscorpora.ru/, 2003–2025