Reconstruction talk:Proto-Slavic/žeravъ

Reconstruction of the word for 'crane'

@Victar: Are you sure about the noun *žeravъ (“crane”)? The only modern o-stem descendants are secondary. Bulgarian жерав (žerav) for example was originally a substantivized adjective of an earlier i-stem noun. East Slavic and Polish descendants indicate an original yo-stem. That is also what Derksen reconstruct, even though he gives the reconstruction as *žeravь. Also, I'm not convinced that proto-Balto-Slavic was an o-stem. Baltic cognates suggest an original ē-stem instead. The long -ā- in *gerˀāwas also looks dubious. Derksen, Kortlandt, and de Vaan reconstruct -ō-. Is it because of the -h₂- in *gerh₂-? In that case, though, the PIE form should have been **gerh₂ēws, not *gerh₂ōws. Безименен 11:27, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

@Bezimenen: Derksen reconstructs *žeravъ, not **žeravь. People mostly cite the Baltic forms as being from *gérh₂u-yeh₂, a separate construction. --{{victar|talk}} 17:47, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

@Victar: It may depend on the copy of the book, but at least in the edition of EDSIL that I possess, the reconstruction is given as *žeravь (m. jo-stem). It may be a typo if another edition gives it as *žeravъ. In either case, he won't reconstruct *žeravъ if it was a yo-stem.

PS In case you've seen another author cites the o-stem, a genuine o-stem is attested for the adjective, e.g. Bulgarian жераво перо (žeravo pero, “crane's feather”). This form took the role of the noun in South Slavic (e.g. Serbo-Croatian жерава /gen. sg./), so there is some basis for reconstructing *žeravъ 'crane'. Originally, though, it was not a noun. Безименен 11:20, 11 April 2020 (UTC)