Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xvoja

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

Alternative forms

*xvojь

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *skwajāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *skw-oy-eh₂, from *skw-oy- (“needle, prickle; thorn”), from *ksew- (“to scrape, shave, sharpen”), from *kes- (“to scrape, comb”).

Baltic cognates include Lithuanian skujà (“needle of a coniferous tree”), dial. skujà (“twig of a pine treem cone, fish-scale”), Latvian skuja (“needle of a fir-tree”).

Indo-European cognates include Old Irish scé (“hawthorn”), Scottish Gaelic sceathan (“thorn bush”), Breton spezad (“gooseberry”), Cornish spedhas f (“briars”), Welsh ysbyddad (“hawthorn”), Pictish *ᚄᚚᚔᚌᚐᚇ (/*spijad/, “thorn”) (from Proto-Celtic *skʷiyat-s).

Noun

*xvòja f

needles or branches of a coniferous tree

Declension

Declension of *xvoja (soft a-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*xvoja	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
Accusative	*xvojǫ	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
Genitive	*xvoję̇	*xvoju	*xvojь
Locative	*xvoji	*xvoju	xvojasъ, xvojaxъ^*
Dative	*xvoji	*xvojama	*xvojamъ
Instrumental	xvojejǫ, xvojǫ^**	*xvojama	*xvojami
Vocative	*xvoje	*xvoji	*xvoję̇

^* -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

*xvojica
*xvojina
*xvojьka
*xvojьnъ

Related terms

*xujь

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old Ruthenian: хво́ꙗ (xvója)
  - Belarusian: хво́я (xvója)
  - Ukrainian: хво́я (xvója); фо́я (fója) (dialectal)
- Russian: хво́я (xvója); хвоя́ (xvojá, “long moss on the tree; small brushwood”) (dialectal)
South Slavic:
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: хво́ја (“branch”) (dialectal)
  Latin: hvója (“branch”) (dialectal)
- Slovene: hȏja, hvȏja (“spruce; conifer”); hovje (“needles or branches of conifer”) (archaic)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: chvojě (“needles or branches of conifer; conifer”)
  - Czech: chvoje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
    - Bohemian (Chod dialect): chvůje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
- Polabian: ch’ǘöja (“pine tree”)
- Polish: choja (“conifer, pine or spruce”); chwoja (“conifer, pine”) (archaic)
- Old Slovak: chvoj
  - Slovak: chvoja (“young branches, a bunch of greens”), chvoj
- Slovincian: xᵘ̯oi̯a
- Sorbian:
  - Upper Sorbian: khója (“pine tree”) (obsolete)
  - ⇒ Lower Sorbian: chójanka (“young pine tree; spruce”)