Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/dьržati

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.

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *dirg-/*dеrg-.

• Per Derksen and Vasmer, from earlier *dьrg-ěti, from extension of Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- or *der-.
  • Cognate with Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬀𐬲𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬉 (dražaitē, “to hold”), inf. 𐬛𐬭𐬁𐬘𐬀𐬢𐬵𐬈 (drājaŋhe). Further cognates are either:
    • *dʰer-: Lithuanian derė́ti, Sanskrit धारयति (dhāráyati, “to hold”), Latin firmus, Old Persian 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎫𐎡𐎹 (d-a-r-y-t-i-y /⁠dārayatiy⁠/)
    • *der-: Ancient Greek δράσσομαι (drássomai), Attic δράττομαι (dráttomai, “to seize, to grab”), which is (per Vasmer) cognate with Proto-Slavic *dьrgati (“to pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (> *dьrati (“to tear”)).
• Trubachev discusses the above etymology but discounts it in favor of reconstructing earlier *dьrz-jati, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ-. But usually suffix -ja- is found in verbs derived from -i- + *-ati. Conjugation -ja/i- or -ja/j-? is unusual (unless it was influenced by -ě/i-).
  • Cognate with Lithuanian dir̃žti (“to harden, to become tough”), 1sg. diržù, Sanskrit दृह्यति (dṛ́hyati, “to be strong”), Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌 (dar^əzaiieⁱti, “to link, to tie”), Old Latin forctis (“strong”) (Latin fortis).

*dьržati impf^[1][2]

1. to hold

• *dьrzati, *dьrznǫti, *dьrzъkъ
• *dьrgati, *dьrnǫti, *dorga
• *dьrati, *dorъ
• *trimati
• *dьržava (“state”)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: дьржати (dĭržati), держати (deržati)
    • Old Ruthenian: держати (deržati)
      • Belarusian: дзіржа́ць (dziržácʹ) (dialectal)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: держа́ти (deržáty)
      • Ukrainian: держа́ти (deržáty)
    • Russian: держа́ть (deržátʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: дрьжати (drĭžati), дръжати (drŭžati)
  • → Old East Slavic: дрьжати (drĭžati), дръжати (drŭžati)
  • Bulgarian: държа́ (dǎržá)
  • Macedonian: држи (drži)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: др̀жати

    Latin script: dr̀žati

  • Slovene: dŕžati (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: držet
  • Old Polish: dzierżeć
    • Polish: dzierżyć (archaic)
  • Slovak: držať
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: dźeržeć
    • Lower Sorbian: źaržaś

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “держа́ть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “держа́ть”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 243
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьržati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 230