Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/li

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Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/li

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 *lei, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (pronominal root). Cognates include Lithuanian -li (as in nùli (“now, just now”), juoli (“especially, all the more so”)), Latvian -lei, -lai (as in nulei, nulai (“now, just now”)), and probably Lithuanian lai (“let”) and Latvian lai (“let”). Other cognates include Latin olle.

Particle

*li

1. question-forming interrogative particle

Conjunction

*li

1. if

Derived terms

• *li že
• *či li

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: ли (li), ль (lĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: ли (li), ль (lʹ)
      • Belarusian: лi (li)
      • Ukrainian: ли (ly) (dialectal)
    • Russian: ли (li), ль (lʹ); ле (le) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic: ли (li)

    Glagolitic: ⰾⰺ (li)

  • Bulgarian: ли (li)
  • Macedonian: ли (li)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: ли

    Latin: li

  • Slovene: li (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: li
  • Old Polish: li
    • Polish: li (obsolete)
  • Slovak: li
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: li
    • Lower Sorbian: li

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1988), “*li”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 15 (*lětina – *lokačь), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 67
• Georgiev V. I., editor (1986), “ли”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 385
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “ли”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress