Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sěra

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

Origin unclear.

Baltic forms (Lithuanian sierà, Latvian sērs) were likely borrowed from Old East Slavic.

It is unclear whether Old East Slavic цѣрь (cěrĭ, “sulfur”) is related.

Noun

*sěra f

sulfur

Declension

Declension of *sěra (hard a-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*sěra	*sěrě	*sěry
Accusative	*sěrǫ	*sěrě	*sěry
Genitive	*sěry	*sěru	*sěrъ
Locative	*sěrě	*sěru	sěrasъ, sěraxъ^*
Dative	*sěrě	*sěrama	*sěramъ
Instrumental	sěrojǫ, sěrǫ^**	*sěrama	*sěrami
Vocative	*sěro	*sěrě	*sěry

^* -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).

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: сѣра (sěra)
  - Belarusian: се́ра (sjéra)
  - Russian: се́ра (séra)
  - Ukrainian: сі́ра (síra)
    - ⇒ Ukrainian: сі́рка (sírka)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic: сѣра (sěra)
- Bulgarian: ся́ра (sjára)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: síra
  - Czech: síra
- ⇒ Kashubian: sarka
- Old Polish: siara, szara
  - Polish: siara
    - ⇒ Polish: siarka
- Slovak: síra
  - ⇒ Slovak: sirka
- Sorbian:
  - ⇒ Lower Sorbian: syrik (literary)

Non-Slavic:
- → Albanian: serë

References

Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “сера”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress