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. expanse, stretch, extent
    Synonym: *prostorъ

Inflection

Declension of *širь (i-stem, uncountable)
singular
nominative *širь
genitive *širi
dative *širi
accusative *širь
instrumental *širьjǫ, *šiřǫ*
locative *širi
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).

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, šíře
    • Old Polish: szyrz
      • Polish: (obsolete) szerz
    • Sorbian:
      Lower Sorbian: šěŕ
      Upper Sorbian: šуŕ

Further reading

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

References

  1. ^ J. Komárková, V. Blažek (2013): Scytho-Slavica (in German), Indogermanische Forschungen
  2. ^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “širȍk”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si:*šȋrъ