Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-teľь

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

Compounded from the original athematic suffix *-tel- (still preserved in *dętelъ, *dętьlъ (“woodpecker”) and *dętelъ (“clover”)) and *-jь. Traces of the original consonantal-stem inflection are well preserved in plural forms, such as the Old Church Slavonic nominative plural -е (-e) / -ⰵ (-e), but genitive plural -ъ (-ŭ) / -ⱏ (-ŭ)).

*-tel- formant probably continues Proto-Indo-European *-ter-, most likely as a result of dissimilation in words such as *orteľь (“plower”) < *or-tel- < *or-ter-. The alternation l : r could also be inherited, because it is already found in Proto-Indo-European, not only in common words, but also in other suffixes, such as *-tlom : *-trom, *-dʰlom : *-dʰrom, which form nomina instrumenti.

Compare *-dlo.

Suffix

*-teľь m

Deverbative, forms agent nouns from the infinitive/aorist stem. Equivalent to English -er.
*dati (“to give”) → *dateľь (“donor, giver”)
*žęti → *žęteľь (“harvester, cropper”)
*bľusti (“to be awake; watch”) → *bľustiteľь (“guard, guardian, sentry”)
*prositi (“to ask; beg”) → *prositeľь (“beggar”)
*dělati (“to do”) → *dělateľь (“worker”)
*prijati (“to favor, please; be favorable”) → *prijateľь (“friend”)

Declension

Declension of *-teľь (soft o-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*-teľь	*-teľa	*-teľi
Accusative	*-teľь	*-teľa	*-teľę̇
Genitive	*-teľa	*-teľu	*-teľь
Locative	*-teľi	*-teľu	*-teľixъ
Dative	*-teľu	*-teľema	*-teľemъ
Instrumental	-teľьmь, -teľemь^*	*-teľema	*-teľi
Vocative	*-teľu	*-teľa	*-teľi

^* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-teľь

Synonyms

(semantically similar): *-ařь

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: -тєль (-telĭ)
  - Belarusian: -цель (-cjelʹ)
  - Russian: -тель (-telʹ)
  - Ukrainian: -тель (-telʹ)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Cyrillic: -тєл҄ь (-telʹĭ)
  Glagolitic: -ⱅⰵⰾⱐ (-telĭ)
- Bulgarian: -тел (-tel)
- Macedonian: -тел (-tel)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: -тељ
  Latin: -telj
- Slovene: -telj
West Slavic:
- Czech: -tel
- Kashubian: -cél
- Polish: -ciel
- Slovak: -teľ
- Sorbian:
  - Lower Sorbian: -śel
  - Upper Sorbian: -ćel

References

Šekli, Matej (2012), “Besedotvorni pomeni samostalniških izpeljank v praslovanščini”, in Philological Studies‎ (in Slovene), volume 10, issue 1, Skopje, Perm, Ljubljana, Zagreb, pages 115–32
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 28ff
Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1976), “*-teľь”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 2 (caca – davьnota), Wrocław: National Ossoliński Institute, page 50