Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/korľь
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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
Generally agreed to derive from Old High German Karl, name of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne (742-814), who ruled the western areas of Slavdom, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”).
Extended derivation:
- Old High German Karl > Late Proto-Slavic *kõrľь
The shift from hard o-stem to the soft jo-stem, as outlined in the chronology above, has several theories of origin:
- Holzer explains the j-suffix as originating from a substantivized possessive adjective
- Schenker suggests analogical replacement after agent nouns ending in *-teľь or other words denoting leaders such as *cěsařь and *kъnędzь
- Pronk-Tiethoff suggests the final *-ľь is due to the fact that Proto-Slavs likely perceived the Old High German final consonant as soft, similarly as in the loanword *grędeľь.
The word has been described as "without doubt the most famous Germanic loanword in Slavic" (Pronk-Tiethoff 2013) due to the fact that it's the only loanword in Slavic that can actually be dated, thus giving clues to the absolute dating of Proto-Slavic phonological developments. The fact that it regularly underwent historical Proto-Slavic sound laws, and that it's reflected in all three branches, is one of the chief indications to date Late Proto-Slavic (Common Slavic) to the ninth century.
However, this is comparatively late (only a century before Old Church Slavonic manuscripts were written), so other etymologies have been suggested:
- Holzer derives it from the name of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel (688-741). The issue with this theory is that Charles Martel was not particularly important to the contemporary Slavs.
- Stender-Petersen derives it from Proto-Germanic *kar(i)laz (“free man”) (Old High German karl (“man”)) with a semantic shift explained as "very ordinary".
These theories are generally thought of as less convincing than from Karl "Charlemagne", who was an actual king of (some) Slavs.
Noun
Inflection
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *kõrľь | *kōrľà | *kōrľì |
| genitive | *kōrľà | *kōrľù | *kõrľь |
| dative | *kōrľù | *kōrľèma | *kõrľemъ |
| accusative | *kõrľь | *kōrľà | *kōrľę̇̀ |
| instrumental | *kōrľь̀mь, *kōrľèmь* | *kōrľèma | *kõrľi |
| locative | *kōrľì | *kōrľù | *kõrľixъ |
| vocative | *korľu | *kōrľà | *kōrľì |
* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.
Derived terms
- *korľevъ (“king's”)
- *korľevьskъ (“royal”)
- *korľevьstvo (“kingdom”)
- *korľica (“queen”)
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
Further reading
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “король”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1984), “*korl'ь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков (in Russian), numbers 11 (*konьcь – *kotьna(ja)), Moscow: Nauka, page 82
- Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia E. (2013) The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 111ff
References
- ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “korljь”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List, Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “b (SA 174, 199; PR 134; MP 19)”
- ^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “králj”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*korl'ь̏”