< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic
Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ostь
Proto-Slavic
Alternative forms
- (after soft, palatal consonants): *-estь
Etymology
From Proto-Balto-Slavic *-astis, from Proto-Indo-European *-Hostis. Cognate with Lithuanian -astis.There are several theories of origin:
- Cognate with Hittite [script needed] (-ašti) (in [script needed] n (dalugašti-, “length”) < [script needed] pl (dalugaeš, “long”, adj.)).
- According to Halla-Aho, by double suffixation */-ot-tь/. e.g. *dobrъ → *dobrota → *dobrostь.
Has a reconstructed valence “−” (minus), that is, the accent paradigm c.
Suffix
*-ostь f
- Used with adjectival stems to form abstract nouns; -ness
- *čìstъ → *čìstostь
- *jȗnъ → *junostь
- *krě̑pъ → *krě̑postь
- *mǫ̃drъ → *mǫdròstь
- *ràdъ → *ràdostь
- *stàrъ → *stàrostь
Declension
Declension of *-ȍstь (i-stem, accent paradigm c)
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | *-ȍstь | *-ȍsti | *-ȍsti |
Accusative | *-ȍstь | *-ȍsti | *-ȍsti |
Genitive | *-ostí | *-ostьjù, *-osťu* | *-ostь̀jь |
Locative | *-ostí | *-ostьjù, *-osťu* | *-ȍstьxъ |
Dative | *-ȍsti | *-ostьmà | *-ȍstьmъ |
Instrumental | *-ostьjǫ́ | *-ostьmà | *-ostьmì |
Vocative | *-osti | *-ȍsti | *-ȍsti |
* 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).
Usage notes
This suffix was used after hard consonants, as opposed to the variant form *-estь that was used with stems ending in a soft, palatal consonant.
Derived terms
Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-ostь
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- Belarusian: -асць (-ascʹ) (unstressed), -осць (-oscʹ) (stressed) (obsolete spellings: -асьць (-asʹcʹ)/-осьць (-osʹcʹ))
- Russian: -ость (-ostʹ)
- Ukrainian: -ість (-istʹ) (genitive: -ості (-osti))
- South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: -ость (-ostĭ)
- Glagolitic: -ⱁⱄⱅⱐ (-ostĭ)
- Bulgarian: -ост (-ost)
- Macedonian: -ост (-ost)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: -ост
- Latin: -ost
- Slovene: -ost
- Old Church Slavonic:
- West Slavic:
- Czech: -ost
- Lower Sorbian: -osć
- Polish: -ość
- Slovak: -osť
References
- Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz (2002), Indo-European abstracta ending with -osti-: the Ossetic evidence, Lingua Posnaniensis 44, p. 175-179
- Vaillant, André (1974), Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, tome IV. Paris, p. 373-377
- Arumaa, Peeter (1985), Urslavische Grammatik, Band III. Heidelberg. p. 46
- Birnbaum, Henrik & Jos Schaeken (1997) Das altkirchenslavische Wort: Bildung - Bedeutung - Herleitung. (Slavistische Beiträge, 348.) München. p.50
- Halla-aho, Jussi (2006) Problems of Proto-Slavic Historical Nominal Morphology: On the Basis of Old Church Slavic (Slavica Helsingiensia; 26), Helsinki: University of Helsinki, page 51
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьlgostь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), volume 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 207