Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žezlъ

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

Uncertain. Potential etymologies include:

Pedersen, Mladenov (tentatively considered by Derksen, Vasmer): Cognate with Old High German kegil (“stake”), perhaps from reduplication of hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel-. See also Lithuanian žalgà (“long stake”), Proto-Germanic *galgô (“gallow”), Old Armenian ձաղկ (jałk, “rod, twig”), possibly of substrate origin.
Trubačev, Machek, Snoj: From Proto-Indo-European *gʷislóm, cognate with Old Armenian ճիւղ (čiwł, “branch, twig”), possibly Old Norse kvísl (“fork”) (which however exhibits long -ī-) and akin to Proto-Slavic *žila (“sinew”), Proto-Slavic *žica (“thread”). Within this hypothesis, -z- in Slavic is problematic.
Georgiev: Possibly from an earlier Proto-Slavic *žeglъ (“branding needle, rod”), from *žeg- (“to heat”) +‎ *-lъ (instrumental suffix), with progressive assimilation of *-g- > *-z- or -ž- (in Serbo-Croatian) after *ž-. Such a lemma is attested in dialectal Bulgarian же́гъл (žégǎl), же́гла (žégla).

See references for further discussion.

Noun

*žèzlъ n^[1]^[2]^[3]

stick, staff, rod
Synonyms: *palъka, *prǫtъ

Alternative forms

*žьzlъ, *žьzlь (in OCS)
*žezlò n

Inflection

Declension of *žèzlъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žèzlъ	*žezlà	*žezlì
genitive	*žezlà	*žezlù	*žèzlъ
dative	*žezlù	*žezlòma	*žezlòmъ
accusative	*žèzlъ	*žezlà	*žezlỳ
instrumental	žezlъ̀mь, žezlòmь^*	*žezlòma	*žèzly
locative	*žezlě̀	*žezlù	*žèzlěxъ
vocative	*žezle	*žezlà	*žezlì

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Related terms

*žigъ (“brand”) (possibly)

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Russian: жезл (žezl), жезе́л (žezél) (folkloric, rare)
  - → Latvian: zizls (“stick”)
- Ukrainian: жезл (žezl)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic: жьзлъ (žĭzlŭ)
  - ⇒ Old Church Slavonic: жьзлиѥ (žĭzlije)
- Bulgarian: же́зъл (žézǎl)
- Macedonian: жезол (žezol)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: же́жељ, жѐзло
  
  Latin script: žéželj, žèzlo
West Slavic:
- Czech: žezlo
  - → Belarusian: жазло́ (žazló)
  - → Slovene: žézlo
- Slovak: žezlo

References

^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*žezlъ; *žьzlъ; *žezlò”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 559: “m. o; m. o; n. o (b) ‘stick, staff’”
^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “žezlъ žezla (sek. žezlo)”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “b (NA 114); b/c (PR 134, 137) rod”
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “žézlo”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*žьzlȍ, *žьzlъ̏, *žьzlь”