Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bara

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; possibly borrowed from a substrate language, or perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bāˀrāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-reh₂ (“shiny; something shiny”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”); compare Proto-Slavic *bolto (“swamp”), traditionally derived from *bʰel- (“shiny, white”), as also *bělь (“swampy meadow”), though also likely of substrate origin instead. The p- forms in Lower Sorbian and Polabian are closer to the Lithuanian pur̃vas (“mud”) and Latvian pùrvs (“bog”), Sudovian puro (“swamp”).

Noun

*bàra f

1. puddle, pond

Alternative forms

• *barъ m
  • East Slavic:
    • Russian: бар (bar, “swampy depression between hills”) (dialectal)
    • Ukrainian: бар (bar, “damp place”) (dialectal)

Declension

Declension of *bara (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bara	*bàrě	*bàry
genitive	*bàry	*bàru	*bàrъ
dative	*bàrě	*bàrama	*bàramъ
accusative	*bàrǫ	*bàrě	*bàry
instrumental	*bàrojǫ, *bàrǭ**	*bàrama	*bàramī
locative	*bàrě	*bàru	*bàrasъ, *bàraxъ*
vocative	*bàro	*bàrě	*bàry

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *barina, *barьje, *baruga, *barišče (augmenatives)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: бара (bara)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ба́ра (bára)
  • Macedonian: бара (bara)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ба̏ра

    Latin script: bȁra

  • Slovene: bára, bȃrje
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: bara (dialectal)
  • Polabian: poro
  • Polish: bary pl
  • Slovak: bara (dialectal)
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: para
    • Upper Sorbian: bara

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*bara”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 153
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “бара”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982), “бар¹”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volume 1 (А – Г), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, page 136
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “бара”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 32