Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/jь

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

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ís

Proto-Balto-Slavic *is

Proto-Slavic *jь

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *is, from Proto-Indo-European *ís and Proto-Indo-European *yós. Cognate with Lithuanian jis (“he”), Latin is.

Determiner

*jь

1. this

Declension

Declension of *jь (soft pronominal)

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*jь	*ja	*je
Accusative	*jь	*jǫ	*je
Genitive	*jego	*jeję̇	*jego
Locative	*jemь	*jeji	*jemь
Dative	*jemu	*jeji	*jemu
Instrumental	*jimь	*jejǫ	*jimь
Dual	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*ja	*ji	*ji
Accusative	*ja	*ji	*ji
Genitive	*jeju	*jeju	*jeju
Locative	*jeju	*jeju	*jeju
Dative	*jima	*jima	*jima
Instrumental	*jima	*jima	*jima
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*ji	*ję̇	*ja
Accusative	*ję̇	*ję̇	*ja
Genitive	*jixъ	*jixъ	*jixъ
Locative	*jixъ	*jixъ	*jixъ
Dative	*jimъ	*jimъ	*jimъ
Instrumental	*jimi	*jimi	*jimi

In the relative function, *jь was supplemented with *že; see *jь že.

Derived terms

• *jakъ, *jako
• *jь že (“who (relative pronoun)”)

See also

• *jь, *čьjь, *jьnъ, *kъjь, *onъ, *ovъ, *sь, *tъ, *vьśь
• *jakъ, *jьnakъ, *kakъ, *onakъ, *ovakъ, *sicь, *takъ, *vьśakъ
• *koterъ, *jeterъ

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*jь (že), *ja (že), *je (že)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 204

Pronoun

*jь

1. he

Declension

Declension of *jь (soft pronominal)

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*jь	*ja	*je
Accusative	*jь	*jǫ	*je
Genitive	*jego	*jeję̇	*jego
Locative	*jemь	*jeji	*jemь
Dative	*jemu	*jeji	*jemu
Instrumental	*jimь	*jejǫ	*jimь
Dual	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*ja	*ji	*ji
Accusative	*ja	*ji	*ji
Genitive	*jeju	*jeju	*jeju
Locative	*jeju	*jeju	*jeju
Dative	*jima	*jima	*jima
Instrumental	*jima	*jima	*jima
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*ji	*ję̇	*ja
Accusative	*ję̇	*ję̇	*ja
Genitive	*jixъ	*jixъ	*jixъ
Locative	*jixъ	*jixъ	*jixъ
Dative	*jimъ	*jimъ	*jimъ
Instrumental	*jimi	*jimi	*jimi

Already in Old Church Slavonic, the nominative forms of this pronoun had mostly fallen out of use, and were supplanted by reflexes of *onъ (“that over there”) and *tъ (“this, that”). It's not certain whether this had already happened within Proto-Slavic but it is likely.

Following a preposition, a prothetic n- is attached to the pronoun in many Slavic languages, including Old Church Slavonic. This probably arose through resegmentation of prepositions that originally ended in -n; through the law of open syllables, it became preferable to consider the final consonant as part of the next syllable, so it was shifted onto the pronoun.

Descendants

In most of the descendants, the pronoun only survives in the inflected forms, which have often become part of a suppletive paradigm, and are combined with a nominative form from an unrelated root (*onъ or *tъ). As such, the roots of the inflections derived from this pronoun have been shown, linking to the nominative masculine pronoun.

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: и (i) (rare in the nominative)
    • Old Ruthenian:
      • Belarusian: я-, і-, ё- (ja-, i-, jo-)
      • Ukrainian: йо-, ї-, не-, ньо-, ни- (jo-, ji-, ne-, nʹo-, ny-)
    • Russian: е-, и-, не-, ни-, нё- (je-, i-, ne-, ni-, njo-)
  • Old Novgorodian: и (i)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: и (i) (rare in the nominative)
  • Bulgarian: и-, не- (i-, ne-)
  • Macedonian: и-, не- (i-, ne-)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: је-, јо-, ју-, и-, ње-, њо-, њу-, њи-

    Latin script: je-, jo-, ju-, i-, nje-, njo-, nju-, nji

  • Slovene: je-, jo-, ju-, ji-, nje-, njo-, nju-, nji-
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: je-, ji-, jí-, ně-, ni-, ní-
  • Kashubian: je-, nie-, ni-
  • Polish: je-, i-, nie-, ni-
  • Slovak: je-, i-, ne-, ni-, ní-, ňo-

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*jь (že), *ja (že), *je (že)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 204
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “он”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress