Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/otava

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

Uncertain. Proposed etymologies include:

• Perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic *atōw-, *atōl-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et- (“grass”). Cognate with Lithuanian atolas, Old Prussian attolis, Latvian atals.
• Vasmer, Trubachev, Georgiev: Derived or akin to Proto-Slavic *otaviti (“to regather strength”) (> Czech otaviti (“to restore strength, to take a breath”), Slovene otáviti (“to strengthen, to refresh”)), formed as Proto-Slavic *ob- (“off, around”) + *tyti (“to fatten”), from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell, to bulk”). Analogous to Proto-Slavic *zabava (“performance, fun”) from Proto-Slavic *byti (“to become”).
• Machek, Snoj: Deverbial from Proto-Slavic *otaviti (“to reappear”), formed as

Proto-Slavic *ot- (“out of”) + *(j)aviti (“to appear”).

• Mladenov: Possibly influenced or derived from Proto-Turkic *ot (“grass”). Nowadays dismissed due to the wide spread of the lemma.

Noun

*otàva f

1. aftergrass, aftermath; grass that comes up after mowing

Inflection

Declension of *otava (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*otava	*otavě	*otavy
genitive	*otavy	*otavu	*otavъ
dative	*otavě	*otavama	*otavamъ
accusative	*otavǫ	*otavě	*otavy
instrumental	*otavojǫ, *otavǫ**	*otavama	*otavami
locative	*otavě	*otavu	*otavasъ, *otavaxъ*
vocative	*otavo	*otavě	*otavy

^* -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

• *otavьnъ
• *otavica, *otavъka (“young grass”) (diminutive)
• *otavišče (augmentative)
• *otaviti (“to regrow after mowing”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: ата́ва (atáva)
  • Russian: ота́ва (otáva)
  • Ukrainian: ота́ва (otáva)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ота́ва (otáva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: о̀тава

    Latin script: òtava

  • Slovene: otȃva (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: otava
    • Czech: otava
  • Polish: otawa
  • Slovak: otava
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: wótawa
    • Upper Sorbian: wotawa

• Eastern Romance:
  • Romanian: otavă

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “отава”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (2003), “*obtava”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 30 (*obsojьnikъ – *obvedьnъjь), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 159
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., Duridanov, I. V., editors (1995), “отава”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 4 (мѝнго² – па̀дам), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 953