Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/lada

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 *ladъ (“order, harmony”) +‎ *-a with meaning shift:

• Šanskij: “the one who made an agreement” > “spouse”
• Sławski: like in German Gatte (“spouse”), Middle High German gegate (“partner, spouse”) : German gätlich (“suitable”) Middle High German gigat (“to coincide; to correspond”) (see Proto-Germanic *gadilingaz)

Less likely related to Lycian 𐊍𐊀𐊅𐊀 (lada, “wife”).

Noun

*lada f or m

1. wife; female consort, female lover?
2. (East Slavic) husband; male consort, male lover?
3. (music) element of folk song refrains (as vocative), possibly with no meaning

Inflection

Declension of *lada (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*lada	*ladě	*lady
genitive	*lady	*ladu	*ladъ
dative	*ladě	*ladama	*ladamъ
accusative	*ladǫ	*ladě	*lady
instrumental	*ladojǫ, *ladǫ**	*ladama	*ladami
locative	*ladě	*ladu	*ladasъ, *ladaxъ*
vocative	*lado	*ladě	*lady

^* -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: ла́да (láda), ла́до (ládo, “husband”)
    • Old Ruthenian: ла́до (ládo), ла́да (láda, “dear, sweet, beloved”)
      • Ukrainian: (dialectal) ла́до m or n (ládo, “husband, spouse, beloved”), ла́до (ládo, “pet name”), ла́до (ládo, “refrain/chant”)
    • Russian: (dialectal) ла́да f (láda, “agreement, amicable transaction; term, contract”), ла́да f or m (láda, “husband, wife”), ла́да (láda, “someone beloved, usually child”), ла́до (ládo, “partner, husband”)
• South Slavic:
  • Church Slavonic ладо n (lado, “beloved (male or female)”)
  • Bulgarian: ла́да (láda, “girl in a wedding custom ладу́ване (ladúvane); refrain/chant”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ла̏да (“wife; refrain/chant”) (obsolete)

    Latin script: lȁda (“wife; refrain/chant”) (obsolete)

  • Slovene: lada (“refrain/chant”)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: lada (“beloved, maiden, girl”)
  • Old Polish: *łada, łado (vocative), Łada (proper noun)
    • ⇒ Old Polish: Ładzic (proper noun)
    • Polish: (Middle Polish) łado (vocative)
    • → Latin: Lada (“Polish pseudogoddess”)
  • Slovak: lada (“harlot”), lado
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: lado (“an insulting name for an ugly, shabby woman”)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Lithuanian: lado (refrain)

Notes

Some languages have preserved this word only in the form of a vocative (lado), often only in the refrains of folk songs. This word, used in songs, often formed the basis for derivations with the meaning “to sing”.

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ла́да”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Sławski, Franciszek (1970-1974) “łado!, łado łado!”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volumes IV: La—Łapucha, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, page 419
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “ладо”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Šanskij, N. M. (2004) “лада”, in Školʹnyj etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkovo jazyka [School Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Drofa
• Šanskij, N. M, Bobrova T. A. (2004) “лада”, in Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка. Происхождение слов (in Russian), Дрофа