Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mečьka

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 *mek- (“bee, fly, insect”) +‎ *-ikeh₂. Related to Proto-Indo-Iranian *makš- (“fly, bee”). [2]

Noun

*mečьka f

1. she-bear
2. little bear

Declension

Declension of *mečьka (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mečьka	*mečьcě	*mečьky
genitive	*mečьky	*mečьku	*mečьkъ
dative	*mečьcě	*mečьkama	*mečьkamъ
accusative	*mečьkǫ	*mečьcě	*mečьky
instrumental	*mečьkojǫ, *mečьkǫ**	*mečьkama	*mečьkami
locative	*mečьcě	*mečьku	*mečьkasъ, *mečьkaxъ*
vocative	*mečьko	*mečьcě	*mečьky

^* -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: мечька (mečĭka)
    • Middle Russian: мечка (mečka), мешка (meška); мека m (meka)
      • Russian: ме́чка (méčka)
    • Old Ruthenian: мечка (mečka)
      • Belarusian: ме́чка (mjéčka)
      • → Latvian: meška
      • → Lithuanian: meškà, mẽškė
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:
    • Church Slavonic: мечька (mečĭka), мешька (mešĭka)
    • Bulgarian: ме́чка (méčka); мечо́к m (mečók); мечé n (mečé)
    • Macedonian: мечка (mečka)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ме̏чка; ме́чак m; ме̏че n

    Latin script: mȅčka; méčak m; mȅče n

  • → Albanian: meçkë
• West Slavic:
  • ⇒? Czech: Mečka m (proper name); Mečkov (toponym)

Further reading

• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “мечка¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 777
• Blažek, Václav (2019) “Славянское *mečьka ‘медведица’ [Slavic *mečьka ‘(she-)bear’]”, in Балто-славянские исследования [Balto-Slavic Studies] (in Russian), volume 20, Moscow, →DOI, pages 200–206