Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/radǫga

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

Per Vasmer, the first element more likely derives from *radъ than folk etymology’s *rajь. The second element from *dǫga would be cognate with Lithuanian dangùs (“sky, heaven”).

Noun

*radǫga f

1. (East Slavic) rainbow

   Synonyms: *dǫga, *tǫča (West Slavic)

Declension

Declension of *radǫga (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*radǫga	*radǫdzě	*radǫgy
genitive	*radǫgy	*radǫgu	*radǫgъ
dative	*radǫdzě	*radǫgama	*radǫgamъ
accusative	*radǫgǫ	*radǫdzě	*radǫgy
instrumental	*radǫgojǫ, *radǫgǫ**	*radǫgama	*radǫgami
locative	*radǫdzě	*radǫgu	*radǫgasъ, *radǫgaxъ*
vocative	*radǫgo	*radǫdzě	*radǫgy

^* -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:
  • Belarusian: ра́дуга (ráduha); ра́духа (ráduxa), радзіха (radzixa) (dialectal)
  • Russian: ра́дуга (ráduga); ра́йдуга (rájduga), ра́вдуга (rávduga), ра́духа (ráduxa), ра́дута (ráduta) (dialectal)
  • Ukrainian: ра́йдуга (rájduha); ра́дуга (ráduha), ра́дова (rádova), радуха (raduxa) (dialectal)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ра́дуга”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress