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”) + ‎*-teľь → ‎*dateľь (“donor, giver”)

‎*žęti + ‎*-teľь → ‎*žęteľь (“harvester, cropper”)

‎*bľusti (“to be awake; watch”) + ‎*-teľь → ‎*bľustiteľь (“guard, guardian, sentry”)

‎*prositi (“to ask; beg”) + ‎*-teľь → ‎*prositeľь (“beggar”)

‎*dělati (“to do”) + ‎*-teľь → ‎*dělateľь (“worker”)

‎*prijati (“to favor, please; be favorable”) + ‎*-teľь → ‎*prijateľь (“friend”)

Declension

Declension of *-teľь (soft o-stem)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-teľь	*-teľa	*-teľi
genitive	*-teľa	*-teľu	*-teľь
dative	*-teľu	*-teľema	*-teľemъ
accusative	*-teľь	*-teľa	*-teľę̇
instrumental	-teľьmь, -teľemь^*	*-teľema	*-teľi
locative	*-teľi	*-teľu	*-teľixъ
vocative	*-teľu	*-teľa	*-teľi

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

Derived terms

Proto-Slavic terms suffixed with *-teľь

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/dateľь

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/prijateľь

Synonyms

(semantically similar): *-ařь

Descendants

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

References

Šekli, Matej (2012) “Besedotvorni pomeni samostalniških izpeljank v praslovanščini”, in Philological Studies‎^[1] (in Slovene), volume 10, number 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: Ossolineum, page 50