Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/plěšь

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

Cognate with Lithuanian plìkas (“bald”), pléikė (“bald patch”), Latvian pliks (“bare, bald”), possibly dialectal Norwegian flein (“bald patch”), perhaps ultimalely from a k-extension of Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (“to pluck, to trim, to splice”). By surface analysis, *plěxa (“cleansed spot”) +‎ *-ь.

Noun

*plě̑šь f

1. bald patch

   Synonym: *lyso

2. baldness

Alternative forms

• *plěša f

Declension

Declension of *plě̑šь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*plě̑šь	*plě̑ši	*plě̑ši
genitive	*plěší	*plěšьjù, *plěšu*	*plěšь̀jь
dative	*plě̑ši	*plěšьmà	*plě̑šьmъ
accusative	*plě̑šь	*plě̑ši	*plě̑ši
instrumental	*plěšьjǫ́	*plěšьmà	*plěšьmì
locative	*plěší	*plěšьjù, *plěšu*	*plě̑šьxъ
vocative	*plěši	*plě̑ši	*plě̑ši

^* 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

• *plěšьcь (“bald person”)
• *plěšina (“baldness”)
• *plěšivъ, *plěšastъ (“bald”)

Related terms

• *plěxъ (“rare, faint, obscure”), *plěxavъ (“pale, faint”)
  • *plěšiti (“to peel, to trim, to clear off”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic:
    • Belarusian: плеш (plješ)
    • Russian: плешь (plešʹ)
    • Ukrainian: плíш (plíš)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: плѣша (plěša)
    • Bulgarian: плеш (pleš) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Serbo-Croatian: пље̏ша (obsolete)

    Serbo-Croatian: pljȅša (obsolete)

  • Slovene: plẹ̑š, plẹ́ša (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: pleš
  • Old Polish: plesz
  • Slovak: pleš (rare)
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: plěch
    • Upper Sorbian: plesa

• → Romanian: pleș (“bald”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “плешь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Duridanov, I. V., Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (1996), “плешив”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 5 (падѐж – пỳска), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 349
• “pleikė”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012