Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/borьba

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 *borti (“to fight”) +‎ *-ьba.

Noun

*borьba f

1. clash, fight

Declension

Declension of *borьba (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*borьba	*borьbě	*borьby
genitive	*borьby	*borьbu	*borьbъ
dative	*borьbě	*borьbama	*borьbamъ
accusative	*borьbǫ	*borьbě	*borьby
instrumental	*borьbojǫ, *borьbǫ**	*borьbama	*borьbami
locative	*borьbě	*borьbu	*borьbasъ, *borьbaxъ*
vocative	*borьbo	*borьbě	*borьby

^* -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:
  • Old East Slavic: борьба (borĭba)
    • Russian: борьба́ (borʹbá)
    • Ukrainian: борба́ (borbá) (dialectal)
      • → Polish: borba (obsolete)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: борба́ (borbá)
  • Macedonian: борба (borba)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: бо̀рба

    Latin script: bòrba

  • Slovene: bȏrba (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Slovak: borba
  • Kashubian: bórzba (“brawl, melee”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “борьба”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*borьba”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 218
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “борба”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 68