Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/širь

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Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/širь

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

Uncertain. Speculated to be a borrowing from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćšáytram (“land, country”) (likely via Scythian[1]), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- (“to settle, to cultivate”). Alternatively, it could be a dialectal derivative of Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- (“to shine”), cognate with Proto-Slavic *ščirъ (“sincere, honest”) and Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“sheer, pure”).

Noun

*šȋrь f[2]

1. vast, scope

   Synonym: *prostorъ

Inflection

Declension of *širь (i-stem, uncountable)

	Singular
Nominative	*širь
Accusative	*širь
Genitive	*širi
Locative	*širi
Dative	*širi
Instrumental	*širьjǫ, *šiřǫ*
Vocative	*širi

^* 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).

Related terms

• *širъ (“vast, broad”)
• *širokъ (“wide”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: ширь (širʹ)
  • Ukrainian: шир (šyr)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: ширь (širĭ)
  • Bulgarian: шир (šir)
  • Macedonian: шир (šir)
  • Slovene: šȋr (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: šíř
  • Old Polish: szyrz
    • Polish: szerz (obsolete)
  • Slovak: šir
  • Sorbian:

    Lower Sorbian: šěŕ

    Upper Sorbian: šуŕ

Further reading

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

References

1. J. Komárková, V. Blažek (2013): Scytho-Slavica (in German), Indogermanische Forschungen
2. Snoj, Marko (2016), “širȍk”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar³ (in Slovene), https://fran.si: “*šȋrъ”