Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/-ę

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.

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Nominative singular ending *-ę reflects Early Proto-Slavic *-ēn, a regular reflex of a pre-form *-ent. Slavic nt-stems have no clear comparison in other Indo-European languages. It is usually compared to Latvian nouns in -ēn- which also often denote young animals with three possible theories of origin:

• Slavic suffix *-nt- originated in Proto-Slavic, by agglutination of the inherited Balto-Slavic *-n- and a secondary suffix *-t- of obscure origin.
• Balto-Slavic inflection exhibited ablaut, with Slavic generalizing normal grade *-en- and Baltic generalizing lengthened grade *-ēn-, with the origin of Slavic *-t- remaining unexplained.
• Balto-Slavic inflection already contained *-nt- suffix, retained in Slavic but with Baltic generalizing the nominoaccusative stem in *-ēn < *-ent.

*-ę n

1. Forms nouns for young animals and other diminutives.

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: -ѧ (-ę)
    • Old Ruthenian: -ѧ (-ja)
      • Belarusian: -я (-ja)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: -я (-ja)
      • Ukrainian: -я (-ja)
    • Russian: -я (-ja)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: -ѧ (-ę)
  • Bulgarian: -е (-e)
  • Macedonian: -е (-e)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: -е

    Latin script: -e

  • Slovene: -e
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: -e
  • Polabian: -ą
  • Old Polish: -ę
    • Polish: -ę
    • Silesian: -ã
  • Slovak: -a, -ä
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: -ã
    • Slovincian: -ã