Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žiznь

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 *žiti (“to live”) +‎ *-znь.

Noun

*žiznь f

1. life

   Synonyms: *životъ, *žitь, *žitьje

Inflection

Declension of *žiznь (i-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*žiznь	*žizni	*žizni
genitive	*žizni	*žiznьju, *žizňu*	*žiznьjь, *žizni*
dative	*žizni	*žiznьma	*žiznьmъ
accusative	*žiznь	*žizni	*žizni
instrumental	*žiznьjǫ, *žizňǫ*	*žiznьma	*žiznьmi
locative	*žizni	*žiznьju, *žizňu*	*žiznьxъ
vocative	*žizni	*žizni	*žizni

^* 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).

Related terms

• *gojь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: жизнь (žiznĭ)
    • Russian: жизнь (žiznʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: жизнь (žiznĭ)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Polish: żyźń

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “жизнь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “жизнь”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 304