Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kleveta

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

Of uncertain provenance.

Vasmer connects it with *klьvati (“to peck, pick (of a bird)”). However, Trubachev proposes a better comparison with dialectal Czech kleviti(se) (“to gossip”) and Arkhangelsk dialectal Russian клевить (klevitʹ, “to tease, pester”).

Noun

*kleveta f

slander
defamation

Inflection

Declension of *kleveta (hard a-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*kleveta	*klevetě	*klevety
Accusative	*klevetǫ	*klevetě	*klevety
Genitive	*klevety	*klevetu	*klevetъ
Locative	*klevetě	*klevetu	klevetasъ, klevetaxъ^*
Dative	*klevetě	*klevetama	*klevetamъ
Instrumental	klevetojǫ, klevetǫ^**	*klevetama	*klevetami
Vocative	*kleveto	*klevetě	*klevety

^* -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

*klevetati
*klevetьnikъ

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: клевета (kleveta)
  - Ukrainian: клевета (kleveta)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic: клевета (kleveta)
  Glagolitic: ⰽⰾⰵⰲⰵⱅⰰ (kleveta)
  - → Russian: клевета (kleveta)
  - Bulgarian: клевета (kleveta)
  - Macedonian: клевета (kleveta)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: клѐвета
  Latin: klèveta
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: kleveta
  - Czech: kleveta
- Slovak: klebeta