Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xvoja

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

Alternative forms

• *xvojь

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *skwajāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *skwoy-eh₂, from *skwey- (“needle, prickle, thorn”).

Baltic cognates include Lithuanian skujà (“needle of a coniferous tree”), dial. skujà (“twig of a pine tree cone, fish-scale”), Latvian skuja (“needle of a fir-tree”).

Indo-European cognates include Old Irish scé (“hawthorn”), Scottish Gaelic sceathan (“thorn bush”), Breton spezad (“gooseberry”), Cornish spedhas f (“briars”), Welsh ysbyddad (“hawthorn”), Pictish *ᚄᚚᚔᚌᚐᚇ (/⁠*spijad⁠/, “thorn”) (from Proto-Celtic *skʷiyats).

Noun

*xvòja f

1. needles or branches of a coniferous tree

Declension

Declension of *xvoja (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*xvoja	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
genitive	*xvoję̇	*xvoju	*xvojь
dative	*xvoji	*xvojama	*xvojamъ
accusative	*xvojǫ	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
instrumental	*xvojejǫ, *xvojǫ**	*xvojama	*xvojami
locative	*xvoji	*xvoju	*xvojasъ, *xvojaxъ*
vocative	*xvoje	*xvoji	*xvoję̇

^* -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

• *xvojica
• *xvojina
• *xvojьka
• *xvojьnъ

Related terms

• *xujь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old Ruthenian: хво́ꙗ (xvója)
    • Belarusian: хво́я (xvója)
    • Ukrainian: хво́я (xvója); фо́я (fója) (dialectal)
  • Russian: хво́я (xvója); хвоя́ (xvojá, “long moss on the tree; small brushwood”) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: хво́ја (“branch”) (dialectal)

    Latin script: hvója (“branch”) (dialectal)

  • Slovene: hȏja, hvȏja (“spruce; conifer”); hovje (“needles or branches of conifer”) (archaic)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: chvojě (“needles or branches of conifer; conifer”)
    • Czech: chvoje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): chvůje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
  • Polabian: χ́ǘöja (“pine tree”)
  • Polish: choja (“conifer, pine or spruce”); chwoja (“conifer, pine”) (archaic)
  • Old Slovak: chvoj
    • Slovak: chvoja (“young branches, a bunch of greens”), chvoj
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: khója (“pine tree”) (obsolete)
    • ⇒ Lower Sorbian: chójanka (“young pine tree; spruce”)

References

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*xvoja / *xvojь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 125
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “хвоя”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “хвоя”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 337