Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/olsь

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

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *alśis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ól-ḱ-is ~ h₁él-ḱ-is, from *h₁el- (“deer”). Cognate with English elk.

Noun

*ȏlsь m^[1]^[2]

(North Slavic) elk (British), moose (U.S.)

Declension

The word is only attested as a soft o-stem in the descendants, but the lack of both iotation and the progressive palatalization point to an original i-stem paradigm.

Declension of *ȏlsь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*ȏlsь	*ȏlsi	ȏlsьjē, ȏlšē^*
genitive	*olsí	olsьjù, olšu^*	*olsь̀jь
dative	*ȏlsi	*olsьmà	*ȏlsьmъ
accusative	*ȏlsь	*ȏlsi	*ȏlsi
instrumental	*ȏlsьmь	*olsьmà	*olsьmì
locative	*olsí	olsьjù, olšu^*	*ȏlsьxъ
vocative	*olsi	*ȏlsi	ȏlsьjē, ȏlšē^*

^* 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:
- Old East Slavic: лось (losĭ)
  - Old Ruthenian: лось (losʹ), лѡсь (lôsʹ), лосъ (los)
    - Belarusian: лось (losʹ); лусь (lusʹ), лэсь (lesʹ) (dialectal)
    - Carpathian Rusyn: лось (losʹ)
    - Ukrainian: лось (losʹ)
  - Russian: лось (losʹ)
    - → Bulgarian: лос (los)
    - → Macedonian: лос (los)
    - → Serbo-Croatian:
      Cyrillic script: ло̏с
      
      Latin script: lȍs
    - → Slovene: lọ̑s (tonal orthography)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: los
  - Czech: los
- Old Polish: łoś
  - Polish: łoś
- Old Slovak: los
  - Pannonian Rusyn: лос (los)
  - Slovak: los
- Pomeranian:
  - Kashubian: łos
- Sorbian:
  - Lower Sorbian: łos
  - Upper Sorbian: łós

References

^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*ȏlsь”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 370: “m. jo (c) ‘elk’”
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “lọ̑s”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “pslovan. *ȏlsь”

[1] Derksen, Rick (2008) “*ȏlsь”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 370: “m. jo (c) ‘elk’”

[2] Snoj, Marko (2016) “lọ̑s”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “pslovan. *ȏlsь”

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