Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/o(b)

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *ab, from a Proto-Indo-European *h₃ebʰi, with no clear direct cognates, but which may have a relation to the following terms:^[1]

• *h₂m̥bʰi (“around”) (whence Latin ambi-, Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí)), which may share the suffix *-bʰi. (compare *oba and Latin ambō, which share the suffix *-bʰóh₁)
• *h₁epi/*h₁opi: Lithuanian ap(y)-, apýilgis, aprangà, Latin ob-, oblongus (: *odьlgъ, *orǫga), which would yield **op- which then might have been conflated with *ob- due to phonetic similiarity.

*o(b)

1. (with locative) around, about
2. (with locative) concerning
3. (with accusative) against, on
4. (with accusative) during

Because of the law of open syllables, the final -b was often dropped. It was retained when the next word began with a vowel or with l or r. When combined with a word that began with v, it was also retained, but the v was dropped.

• *oba
• *opakъ
• *po
• *otъ, *ot-

• *o- / *ob- / *obъ- / *obi-
• *obьťь
• *obьdo

From *o:

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: о (o), ѡ (o)
    • Old Ruthenian: о (o)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: о (o)
      • Ukrainian: о (o)
    • Russian: о (o)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: о (o)
  • Bulgarian: о (o)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: о

    Latin script: o

  • Slovene: ȍ (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: o, ob
  • Old Polish: o
    • Polish: o
    • Silesian: ô
  • Slovak: o, ob
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: ò, ó
    • Slovincian: wô
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: wó
    • Upper Sorbian: wó

From *ob(ъ)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: объ (obŭ), об (ob), ѡб (ob)
    • Old Ruthenian: объ (ob)
      • Belarusian: аб (ab)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: об (ob)
      • Ukrainian: об (ob)
    • Russian: об (ob)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: объ (obŭ), об (ob)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: об (regional)

    Latin script: ob (regional)

  • Slovene: ȍb (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: ob
  • Kashubian: òb, òbe
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: wob

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