Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/žьrtva

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

From *žьrti (“to sacrifice”) +‎ *-tva, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *girʔ-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH-.

Noun

*žьrtva f

sacrifice

Declension

Declension of *žьrtva (hard a-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*žьrtva	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy
Accusative	*žьrtvǫ	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy
Genitive	*žьrtvy	*žьrtvu	*žьrtvъ
Locative	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvu	žьrtvasъ, žьrtvaxъ^*
Dative	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvama	*žьrtvamъ
Instrumental	žьrtvojǫ, žьrtvǫ^**	*žьrtvama	*žьrtvami
Vocative	*žьrtvo	*žьrtvě	*žьrtvy

^* -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).

Related terms

*gornъ
*žьrьcь (“priest”)

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: жрьтва (žrĭtva)
  - → Polish: żertwa
  - Russian: же́ртва (žértva)
    - → Czech: žertva
  - Ukrainian: же́ртва (žértva)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic: жрьтва (žrĭtva)
  Glagolitic: ⰶⱃⱐⱅⰲⰰ (žrĭtva)
  - → Romanian: jertfă
- Bulgarian: же́ртва (žértva)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: жр̏тва
  Latin: žȑtva
- Slovene: žrtva
Non-Slavic:
- → Romanian: jertfă

References

Derksen, Rick (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 566
Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “жертва”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress