Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mъlva

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 Proto-Balto-Slavic *múlˀwāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥wH-eh₂, from *mlewH-.

Noun

*mъ̀lva f

1. speech

Inflection

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mъ̀lva	*mъ̀lvě	*mъ̀lvy
genitive	*mъ̀lvy	*mъ̀lvu	*mъ̀lvъ
dative	*mъ̀lvě	*mъ̀lvama	*mъ̀lvamъ
accusative	*mъ̀lvǫ	*mъ̀lvě	*mъ̀lvy
instrumental	*mъ̀lvojǫ, *mъ̀lvǭ**	*mъ̀lvama	*mъ̀lvamī
locative	*mъ̀lvě	*mъ̀lvu	*mъ̀lvasъ, *mъ̀lvaxъ*
vocative	*mъ̀lvo	*mъ̀lvě	*mъ̀lvy

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *mъ̀lvati
• *mъ̀lvjenъ
  • *mъ̀lv(j)enьje
• *mъ̀lviti
  • *mъ̀lvěninъ
  • *mъ̀lvjati
• *mъ̀lvъka
• *mъ̀lvь
• *mъ̀lvьca, *mъ̀lvьcь
• *mъ̀lvьnъ

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: мъ́лва (mŭ́lva), мо́лва (mólva), мълъва (mŭlŭva)
    • Old Ruthenian: мо́ва (móva), мо́лва (mólva) — archaic form
      • Belarusian: мо́ва (móva); малва́ (malvá) (dialectal)
      • Ukrainian: мо́ва (móva)
      • → Russian: мо́ва (móva) (dialectal)
    • Middle Russian: молва (molva)
      • Russian: мо́лва́ (mólvá); моло́ва (molóva) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: млъва (mlŭva)

    Glagolitic script: ⰿⰾⱏⰲⰰ (mlŭva)

    • → Serbo-Croatian:

      Cyrillic script: мува (rare, literary, archaic)

      Latin script: muva (rare, literary, archaic)

  • Bulgarian: мълва́ (mǎlvá); млъва́ (mlǎvá) (obsolete)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: mluva
    • Czech: mluva; młuva (dialectal)
  • Old Polish: mowa, mołwa
    • Polish: mowa
    • Silesian: mŏwa
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: mòwa
  • Slovak: mluva (literary)

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1994), “*mъlva”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 20 (*morzatъjь – *mъrsknǫti), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 225
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “молва́”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress