Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ženъka

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 *ženà (“woman; wife”) +‎ *-ъka (“diminutive suffix”).

Noun

*žènъka f

1. woman
2. wife

Inflection

Declension of *ženъka (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*ženъka	*ženъcě	*ženъky
genitive	*ženъky	*ženъku	*ženъkъ
dative	*ženъcě	*ženъkama	*ženъkamъ
accusative	*ženъkǫ	*ženъcě	*ženъky
instrumental	*ženъkojǫ, *ženъkǫ**	*ženъkama	*ženъkami
locative	*ženъcě	*ženъku	*ženъkasъ, *ženъkaxъ*
vocative	*ženъko	*ženъcě	*ženъky

^* -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: женъка (ženŭka), жонъка (žonŭka)
    • Old Ruthenian: жо́нка (žónka), жѡ́нка (žốnka), жу́нка (žúnka), жи́нка (žínka), же́нка (žénka)
      • Belarusian: жо́нка (žónka); (dialectal) жынка (žynka)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: жу́нка (žúnka)
      • Ukrainian: жі́нка (žínka); (dialectal) жо́нка (žónka), жу́нка (žúnka), жи́нка (žýnka)
    • Russian: (dialectal) жёнка (žónka)
  • Old Novgorodian: жонъка (žonŭka)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: жѐнка (žènka)
  • Macedonian: женка (ženka)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: же̑нка

    Latin script: žȇnka

  • Slovene: ženka
• West Slavic:
  • Polish: żonka
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: žonka

Further reading

• Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “жо́нка”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka