Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/buky
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
Of Germanic origin, with two proposed sources of borrowing:
- For meaning beech: From Proto-West Germanic *bōku (“beech”)[1][2], formally equivalent to *bukъ (“beech”) + *-y.
- For meaning books, writs: From Gothic 𐌱𐍉𐌺𐍉𐍃 pl (bōkōs, “books”) (per Vasmer, Trubachev).
Interrelation between the two meanings is now widely considered uncertain (or even dismissed entirely, e.g. by Kluge/Seebold), mainly because there is no surviving evidence for beech-based writing among early Germanic and Balto-Slavic peoples. It is possible (as noted by Mallory and Adams) that beech had religious significance for ancient Indo-European people and so was used to inscribe sacred symbols onto[2]. In this case, the extended meaning writ, sign would be directly borrowed from Germanic. A third hypothesis speculates that beechmast was used for counting and bookkeeping, whence the word innately developed a sense of “unit of data representation” → grapheme, writ.
Noun
*bùky f[3][1]
- Alternative form of *bukъ (“beech”)
- (by specialization) beechmast
- (by extension) writ, grapheme, written sign → letter
- Synonyms: *čьrka, *pisьmo, *znakъ
- (by extension, in the plural) books (corpus of written inscriptions)
- Synonym: *kъňigy
Usage notes
The meaning in West and Western South Slavic is beech or beechmast, while in East and Eastern South Slavic, the primary attested meaning is letter (or generally grapheme). It has evolved from an earlier meaning inscription, writ (attested in Church Slavonic). Occassionally, Old Church Slavonic боукъви pl (bukŭvi) could also refer to tally or another bookkeeping mean.
During the development of Church Slavonic writing, Old Church Slavonic боукꙑ (buky) was chosen as the name for the second letter of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets, whence the term азъбоукꙑ (azŭbuky, “alphabet”).
Declension
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | *bùky | *bùkъvi | *bùkъvi |
Accusative | *bùkъvь | *bùkъvi | *bùkъvi |
Genitive | *bùkъve | *bùkъvu | *bùkъvъ |
Locative | *bùkъve | *bùkъvu | *bùkъvьxъ, *bùkъvaxъ* |
Dative | *bùkъvi | *bùkъvьma, *bùkъvama* | *bùkъvьmъ, *bùkъvamъ* |
Instrumental | *bùkъvьjǫ, *bùkъvľǭ** | *bùkъvьma, *bùkъvama* | *bùkъvьmī, *bùkъvamī* |
Vocative | *bùky | *bùkъvi | *bùkъvi |
** 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
- *bukъvařь (“alphabet textbook”)
- *bukъvica (“beechmast; small letter”)
Related terms
- *bukъ (“beech”)
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: бꙋкꙑ (buky), бѹкъвь (bukŭvĭ), бꙋкъва (bukŭva)
- Russian: бу́ква (búkva), бу́ки (búki)
- → Ingrian: bukva
- → Polish: bukwa
- → Skolt Sami: bukva
- Rusyn: бу́ква (búkva)
- Ukrainian: бу́ква (búkva)
- Russian: бу́ква (búkva), бу́ки (búki)
- Old East Slavic: бꙋкꙑ (buky), бѹкъвь (bukŭvĭ), бꙋкъва (bukŭva)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: боукꙑ (buky)
- Glagolitic: ⰱⱆⰽⱏⰺ (buky)
- → Romanian: buche
- Bulgarian: бу́ква (búkva)
- Macedonian: буква (bukva)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: бу̏ква
- Latin: bȕkva
- Slovene: bȗkəv, bȗkva (tonal orthography)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- West Slavic:
- Old Czech: bukev
- Czech: bukva, bukev
- Polabian: bükvoi
- Old Polish: bukiew
- Polish: bukiew
- Slovak: bukev
- Slovincian: bʉ̃kvjă
- Sorbian:
- Upper Sorbian: bukow
- Old Czech: bukev
Further reading
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “буква”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1976), “*buky”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), volume 3 (*bratrьcь – *cьrky), Moscow: Nauka, page 91
- Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1974), “*buky”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 1 (a – bьzděti), Wrocław: National Ossoliński Institute, page 446
- Georgiev V. I., editor (1971), “буква”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 87
- Skok, Petar (1971) Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (in Serbo-Croatian), volume I, Zagreb: JAZU, page 230f
- Verweij, Arno (1994), “Quantity Patterns of Substantives in Czech and Slovak”, in Dutch Contributions to the Eleventh International Congress of Slavists, Bratislava (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics), volume 22, Editions Rodopi B.V., page 520
References
- Snoj, Marko (2016), “bukev”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar3 (in Slovene), https://fran.si: “Slovan. *bűky, rod. *bűkъve”
- Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia E. (2013) The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic (in English), Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 75: “PSl. *buky ‘beech(nut)’ (f. ū-stem).... AP (a)”
- Olander, Thomas (2001), “buky, G. bukъve”, in Common Slavic accentological word list, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (PR 133)”