Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ǫžь

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 *ángis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éngʷʰis (“snake”). Baltic cognates include Old Prussian angis, Lithuanian angi̇̀s, Latvian odze. Indo-European cognates include Latin anguis, Old High German unc and Old Armenian աւձ (awj).

Noun

*ǫ̃žь m

1. snake

Inflection

Declension of *ǫ̃žь (soft o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*ǫ̃žь	*ǭžà	*ǭžì
genitive	*ǭžà	*ǭžù	*ǫ̃žь
dative	*ǭžù	*ǭžèma	*ǫ̃žemъ
accusative	*ǫ̃žь	*ǭžà	*ǭžę̇̀
instrumental	*ǭžь̀mь, *ǭžèmь*	*ǭžèma	*ǫ̃ži
locative	*ǭžì	*ǭžù	*ǫ̃žixъ
vocative	*ǫžu	*ǭžà	*ǭžì

^* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: ѫжь (ǫžĭ), ужь (užĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: ужъ (už), вужъ (vuž)
      • Belarusian: вуж (vuž)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: уж (už)
      • Ukrainian: вуж (vuž), уж (už)
    • Russian: уж (už)
    • →? Estonian: uss
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: въжек (vǎžek, “a kind of a grey non-venomous snake”) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ужак (“a legless, snake-like lizard”), гуж (Shtokavian)

    Latin script: u̯õš (“a kind of a black snake”) (Chakavian)

  • Slovene: ọ́ž (“a grass snake”) (tonal orthography), vọ̑ž, gọ́ž (“snake”) (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • ⇒ Czech: užovka
  • Kashubian: wąż
  • Old Polish: wąż
    • Polish: wąż
    • Silesian: wōnż
  • ⇒ Slovak: užovka
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: wuž, huž
    • Upper Sorbian: wuž

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “уж”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• “angis”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012