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Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ostь

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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

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Alternative forms

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  • (after soft, palatal consonants): *-estь

Etymology

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From Proto-Balto-Slavic *-astis, from Proto-Indo-European *-Hostis. Cognate with Lithuanian -astis. There are several theories of origin:

  • Cognate with Hittite [script needed] (-ašti) (in [script needed] n (dalugašti-, length) < [script needed] pl (dalugaeš, long, adj.)).
  • According to Halla-Aho, by double suffixation */-ot-tь/. e.g. *dobrъ*dobrota*dobrostь.

Has a reconstructed valence “−” (minus), that is, the accent paradigm c.

Suffix

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*-ostь f

  1. Used with adjectival stems to form abstract nouns; -ness
    *čìstъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*čìstostь
    *jȗnъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*junostь
    *krě̑pъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*krě̑postь
    *mǫ̃drъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*mǫdròstь
    *ràdъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*ràdostь
    *stàrъ + ‎*-ostь → ‎*stàrostь

Declension

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Usage notes

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This suffix was used after hard consonants, as opposed to the variant form *-estь that was used with stems ending in a soft, palatal consonant.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • East Slavic:
    • Belarusian: (unstressed) -асць (-ascʹ), (stressed) -осць (-oscʹ), (Taraškievica spelling, unstressed) -асьць (-asʹcʹ), (Taraškievica spelling, stressed) -осьць (-osʹcʹ)
    • Russian: -ость (-ostʹ)
    • Ukrainian: -ість (-istʹ) (genitive: -ості (-osti))
  • South Slavic:
  • West Slavic:

References

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  • Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz (2002), Indo-European abstracta ending with -osti-: the Ossetic evidence, Lingua Posnaniensis 44, p. 175-179
  • Vaillant, André (1974), Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, tome IV. Paris, p. 373-377
  • Arumaa, Peeter (1985), Urslavische Grammatik, Band III. Heidelberg. p. 46
  • Birnbaum, Henrik & Jos Schaeken (1997) Das altkirchenslavische Wort: Bildung - Bedeutung - Herleitung. (Slavistische Beiträge, 348.) München. p.50
  • Halla-aho, Jussi (2006) Problems of Proto-Slavic Historical Nominal Morphology: On the Basis of Old Church Slavic (Slavica Helsingiensia; 26), Helsinki: University of Helsinki, page 51
  • Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьlgostь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 207