< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic
Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mora
 | 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-Indo-European *mor- (“malicious female spirit”), possibly from *mor-, *mer- (“to die”), see also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), English nightmare.[1]
Noun
*morà f[2]
- nightly spirit
- nightmare
Declension
Declension of *mora (hard a-stem)
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *mora | *morě | *mory |
| Accusative | *morǫ | *morě | *mory |
| Genitive | *mory | *moru | *morъ |
| Locative | *morě | *moru | *morasъ, *moraxъ* |
| Dative | *morě | *morama | *moramъ |
| Instrumental | *morojǫ, *morǫ** | *morama | *morami |
| Vocative | *moro | *morě | *mory |
* -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).
** 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:
- Russian: мо́ра (móra, “mythological female creature, ghost, darkness”) (dialectal)
- ⇒ Russian: кики́мора (kikímora)
- Ukrainian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare, house-spirit”) (dialectal)
- Russian: мо́ра (móra, “mythological female creature, ghost, darkness”) (dialectal)
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Old Cyrillic: мора (mora)
- Glagolitic: [Term?]
- → Romanian: moroi (“spirit”)
- Bulgarian: мора (mora, “nightmare”)
- Macedonian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare”)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: мо̏ра (“nightmare”)
- Latin: mȍra
- Chakavian (Orbanići): Morȁ (“personified nightmare, female phantom”)
- Slovene: móra (“nightmare, owl”)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- West Slavic:
- Czech: můra (“nightmare, mythological creature that suffocates people in their sleep, moth”)
- Polish: mora (“nightly spirit that attacks people and horses in their sleep, nightly apparition, nightmare”) (dialectal)
- Slovak: mora, mura (“demonical creature that torments people in their sleep”)
- Slovincian: mùoră (“nightmare, its female personification”) (dialectal)
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “mare”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Derksen, Rick (2008), “*morà”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 324: “f. ā ‘nightly spirit, nightmare’”