Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/pyrъ

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

*kolsъ *pyra

Formally from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pū́ˀras m, *pū́ˀra n (descendants flucturate between mobile /in Lithuanian/ and fixed /in Slavic/ accent paradigms), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *puHrós (“sort of wild wheat”) (according to Witczak, originally Triticum compactum). Cognate with Lithuanian pū̃ras (“corn of winter-wheat”) (plural pūraĩ refers to the plant), Latvian pûr̨i pl (“winter wheat”), Old Prussian pure f (“rye brome”), Ancient Greek πῡρός (pūrós, “wheat”).

Synchronically, represents an o-stem variant of i-stems *pyrь, *pyrьjь, with no discernable difference in meaning. Possibly diachronically formed as a (common) objective counterpart to an earlier (neuter) r/n-stem mass noun. Similar constructions are also found in Proto-Indo-European *wesh₂erós (“spring corn”), *sweh₂réh₂ (“millet”) (whence Lithuanian sóra (“common millet”), Western-Curonian dial. Latvian sūra (“a kind of panicgrass”)).

(The similarity to Chuvash пӑри (pări, “farro or spelt”), occassionally noted in the literature, is sometimes dismissed as a coincidence in view of its supposed derivation from Proto-Turkic *bugday (“wheat etc.”). However, Róna-Tas et al. reject this and argue that it is indeed related to Proto-Slavic *pyrъ. )

Noun

*pỳrъ m

1. wild rye, couch grass (Elymus spp.)
2. spelt (Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta)

Alternative forms

• *pỳro n, *pỳra f (relic collective)

Declension

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*pyrъ	*pỳra	*pỳri
genitive	*pỳra	*pỳru	*pỳrъ
dative	*pỳru	*pỳroma	*pỳromъ
accusative	*pyrъ	*pỳra	*pỳry
instrumental	*pỳrъmь, *pỳromь*	*pỳroma	*pỳrȳ
locative	*pỳrě	*pỳru	*pỳrě̄xъ
vocative	*pỳre	*pỳra	*pỳri

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

• *pyriti (sę) (“to flourish in spelt/couch grass (for field, area)”)
• *pyrika, *pyrina, *pyrovina (“stem, root, or plant material of wheatgrass plant”)
• *pyrьnъ (“partaining to wheatgrass”)
  • *pyrьnikъ m, *pyrьnica f (“couch grass”) (in languages where the primary term refers to “spelt”)

Descendants

From masc. o-stem, typically referring to “couch grass”:

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: пир (pir) (dialectal)
    • ⇒ пи́рел (pírel, “ryegrass”) (dialectal, formally from *pyryľь)
  • Macedonian: пир (pir)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пи̏р

    Latin script: pȉr

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: pýr
  • Slovak: pýr
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: pyr

From neut. o-stem, typically referring to “spelt”:

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: пꙑро (pyro)
    • Russian: пыро (pyro) (obsolete)
    • Ukrainian: пиро (pyro) (obsolete)
• South Slavic:
  • Russian Church Slavonic: пꙑро (pyro)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пи̏ро, пѝрика (dialectal)

    Latin script: pȉrо, pìrika (dialectal)

  • Slovene: pȋro (obsolete), píra
    • ⇒ zapíriti se (“to grow full with couch grass; to become red, to blush”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “пыро”, 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), “пир²”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 5 (падѐж – пỳска), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 250
• Трубачёв, Олег Николаевич (a. 2002) Труды по этимологии: Слово · История · Культура (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Языки славянской культуры, published 2004, →ISBN, page 772
• Furlan, Metka (2016) Prispevki k slovenski in slovanski etimologiji (Linguistica et philologica), volume 32, Ljubljana: Založba ZRC SAZU, →ISBN, pages 123-124
• “pūrai”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
• Nieminen, Eino (1956) “Die Benennungen der Hirse in den baltischen Sprachen”, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume 74. 3./4., pages 162–176