Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bǫba

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 a Proto-Indo-European expressive root *bew-, *bow- (“to swell; ball”); see βῠβός (bubós, “full, great”)

Noun

*bǫba f

1. larva
2. bug (in general)

Inflection

Declension of *bǫba (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bǫba	*bǫbě	*bǫby
genitive	*bǫby	*bǫbu	*bǫbъ
dative	*bǫbě	*bǫbama	*bǫbamъ
accusative	*bǫbǫ	*bǫbě	*bǫby
instrumental	*bǫbojǫ, *bǫbǫ**	*bǫbama	*bǫbami
locative	*bǫbě	*bǫbu	*bǫbasъ, *bǫbaxъ*
vocative	*bǫbo	*bǫbě	*bǫby

^* -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:
  • Belarusian: бу́ба (búba)
  • Russian: бу́ба (búba)
  • Ukrainian: бу́ба (búba)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: бу́ба (búba)
  • Macedonian: буба (buba)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бу̏ба

    Latin script: bȕba

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: buba

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*bǫba”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, pages 229-230
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “бу́ба”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress