Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bolьnica
Proto-Slavic
Alternative reconstructions
Etymology
From *bolьnъ (“sick, ill”) + *-ica, from *bolь (“pain”). Comparable to *bolьnikъ m (“sick man”).
Noun
*bolьnica f[1]
- (East and South Slavic) sick woman
Reconstruction notes
The semantics of the “hospital, institutions where people are treated” is secondary (post-Proto-Slavic) and represents an inter-Slavic book borrowing (from Church Slavonic and Russian).[1] However, in Old Church Slavonic *больница (*bolĭnica) is not attested.
Inflection
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *bolьnica | *bolьnici | *bolьnicę̇ |
| genitive | *bolьnicę̇ | *bolьnicu | *bolьnicь |
| dative | *bolьnici | *bolьnicama | *bolьnicamъ |
| accusative | *bolьnicǫ | *bolьnici | *bolьnicę̇ |
| instrumental | *bolьnicejǫ, *bolьnicǫ** | *bolьnicama | *bolьnicami |
| locative | *bolьnici | *bolьnicu | *bolьnicasъ, *bolьnicaxъ* |
| vocative | *bolьnice | *bolьnici | *bolьnicę̇ |
* -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).
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- >? Church Slavonic: больни́ца (bolĭníca, “place in the monastery for the sick”) (see there for further descendants)
- Bulgarian: болни́ца (bolníca, “sick woman”) (archaic)
- Macedonian: болница (bolnica, “sick woman”)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic script: бо̂лница (“sick woman”), бо̂ница, бо̏ланица, бо́ница
- Latin script: bôlnica (“sick woman”), bônica, bȍlanica, bónica
- Slovene: bolníca (“sick, patient (female)”) (tonal orthography)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*boľьnica”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 194
- ^ Dyachenko, Grigory M. (1900) “больни́ца”, in Полный церковнославѧнскій словарь [Complete Church Slavonic Dictionary] (in Russian), Moscow: Typography Wilde, page 55: “больница – др. рус. = больная женщина. ― bolʹnica – dr. rus. = bolʹnaja ženščina.”
Further reading
- Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010) “больница”, in Этимологический словарь современного русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Contemporary Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 1: (А – Начальство), Moscow: Flinta; Nauka, →ISBN, page 72