Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/skala

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Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/skala

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

Substantivized collective noun from *skàliti (“to chop”) +‎ *-а. Perhaps, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *skalā́ˀ, from a long o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut, to chop”), akin to Lithuanian skalà (“chip, sliver”), Proto-Germanic *skalō (“lump, ball”).

Noun

*skàla f[1][2]

1. (perhaps originally[1]) crack, cleft → sliver, fragment, wedge
2. rock

Alternative forms

• *skaľa (yā-stem)

Declension

Declension of *skala (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*skala	*skàlě	*skàly
Accusative	*skàlǫ	*skàlě	*skàly
Genitive	*skàly	*skàlu	*skàlъ
Locative	*skàlě	*skàlu	*skàlasъ, *skàlaxъ*
Dative	*skàlě	*skàlama	*skàlamъ
Instrumental	*skàlojǫ, *skàlǭ**	*skàlama	*skàlamī
Vocative	*skàlo	*skàlě	*skàly

^* -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

• *skalica, *skalъka (diminutive)
• *skalařь, *skalakъ (“stone worker/miner”)
• *skalistъ (“rocky”)
• *skalьnъ (“stony, made of rock”)

Related terms

• *skaliti (“to chop”)
• *skolьka (“shell; mussel”)
• *ščelь (“crack, fissure”)
  • *ščelina (“cleft, aperture”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: скала́ (skalá)
  • Ukrainian: скала́ (skalá), ска́ля (skálja)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic: скала (skala)

    Glagolitic: ⱄⰽⰰⰾⰰ (skala)

  • Bulgarian: скала́ (skalá)
  • Macedonian: скала (skala) (dated, dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: ска̏ла

    Latin: skȁla

  • Slovene: skála
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: skála
    • Czech: skála
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): škála
  • Old Polish: skała
    • Polish: skała
  • Slovak: skala
  • Sorbian:

    Upper Sorbian: skała

    Lower Sorbian: skała

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “скала”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Duridanov I., Račeva M., Todorov T., editor (1996), “скала”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 5, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 718
• скала in Горох.ua

References

1. Snoj, Marko (2016), “skala¹”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar³ (in Slovene), https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *ska̋la”
2. Olander, Thomas (2001), “?skala”, in Common Slavic accentological word list, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (RPT 107)”