Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/děra

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

Enlonged grade of *derti (“to tear”) +‎ *-a, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear”).

Noun

*dě̄rà f

1. crack, snick, notch

   Synonyms: *rězъ, *pazina, *želbъ

Alternative forms

• *dira, *diřa (i-reflex)
• *dyra (u-reflex)

Declension

Declension of *dě̄rà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*dě̄rà	*dě̃rě	*dě̄rỳ
genitive	*dě̄rỳ	*dě̄rù	*dě̃rъ
dative	*dě̄rě̀	*dě̄ràma	*dě̄ràmъ
accusative	*dě̄rǫ̀	*dě̃rě	*dě̄rỳ
instrumental	*dě̄ròjǫ, *dě̃rǫ**	*dě̄ràma	*dě̄ràmī
locative	*dě̄rě̀	*dě̄rù	*dě̄ràsъ, *dě̄ràxъ*
vocative	*děro	*dě̃rě	*dě̄rỳ

^* -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).

Related terms

• *derti, *dьrati (“to tear, to flay”)
• *derъ, *derьba (“skinning, flaying”)
• *dorъ (“tearing, split”)

Derived terms

• *děravъ (“torn, ragged”)
• *děrьnъ (“hollow”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: дѣра (děra)
    • Old Ruthenian: дѣра́ (děrá)
      • Ukrainian: діра́ (dirá)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: diera
    • Czech: díra
  • Slovincian: dzéra
  • Slovak: diera
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: dźěra
    • Lower Sorbian: źěra

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*děra”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 12