Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/vapa
Proto-Slavic
Etymology 1
Disputed:
- Considered a loanword by early scholars, possibly borrowed from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hā́ps (“water”) with prothetic *v- due to word-initial sandhi (similar to Proto-Slavic *vatra (“fire, torch”) < Proto-Iranian *HáHtr̥š (“fire”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep-, whence native Proto-Slavic *Opava (hydronym, attested as Opava in modern Czechia), Old Prussian apē (“river”), possibly also *opica (“monkey”).
- More likely inherited (Trautmann, Vasmer), cognate with Lithuanian ùpė (“river”), Latvian upe (“river”), Sudovian upa (“river”), perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic *wṓps ~ *upís. Further akin to Sanskrit वापी (vā́pī, “pond, pool”) and probably Hittite [script needed] (wappu-, “riverbank”) (attested predominantly in gen. wappuwaš). Zero grade froms attested in dialectal Bulgarian and in toponyms - cf. Russian Вопь (Vopʹ, “Vop river”) < *Vъpь. In view of the Anatolian data, PIE origin could be from tentative *wep- (“to cast, to pour, to permeate”) (per Pokorny), whence also Old Prussian wupyan (“cloud”), Proto-Iranian *wafrah (“snow”). Mallory & Adams reconstruct instead Proto-Indo-European *weh₂p- for the Indo-Aryan data (formally incompatible with Hittite). On the later, Witczak[1] suggests possible fossilized compound *h₂we- (“away, off”) + *h₂ep- originally conveying contrast: off + flowing water → stagnant water.
In either case, *vapa may have been a functional counterpart (originally, of common gender) to substantive *voda (originally, neuter).
Noun
*vapa f
Declension
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *vapa | *vapě | *vapy |
| genitive | *vapy | *vapu | *vapъ |
| dative | *vapě | *vapama | *vapamъ |
| accusative | *vapǫ | *vapě | *vapy |
| instrumental | *vapojǫ, *vapǫ** | *vapama | *vapami |
| locative | *vapě | *vapu | *vapasъ, *vapaxъ* |
| vocative | *vapo | *vapě | *vapy |
* -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:
Further reading
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “вапа”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “вапа”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 118
- Snoj, Marko (2016) “vapa”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si
References
Etymology 2
Collective of *vapь (“dye”) + *-a. Possibly related to Etymology 1 (Preobražensky, Brückner, Snoj).
Noun
*vapa f
- alternative form of *vapь (“dye”)
Declension
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *vapa | *vapě | *vapy |
| genitive | *vapy | *vapu | *vapъ |
| dative | *vapě | *vapama | *vapamъ |
| accusative | *vapǫ | *vapě | *vapy |
| instrumental | *vapojǫ, *vapǫ** | *vapama | *vapami |
| locative | *vapě | *vapu | *vapasъ, *vapaxъ* |
| vocative | *vapo | *vapě | *vapy |
* -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
Further reading
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “вапа”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress