Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mora

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

From Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“malicious female spirit”), possibly from *mor-, *mer- (“to die”), see also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), English nightmare.

Noun

*morà f

nightly spirit
nightmare

Declension

Declension of *mora (hard a-stem)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mora	*morě	*mory
genitive	*mory	*moru	*morъ
dative	*morě	*morama	*moramъ
accusative	*morǫ	*morě	*mory
instrumental	morojǫ, morǫ^**	*morama	*morami
locative	*morě	*moru	morasъ, moraxъ^*
vocative	*moro	*morě	*mory

^* -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:
- Russian: мо́ра (móra, “mythological female creature, ghost, darkness”) (dialectal)
  - ⇒ Russian: кики́мора (kikímora)
- Ukrainian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare, house-spirit”) (dialectal)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic script: мора (mora)
  
  Glagolitic script:
  - → Romanian: moroi (“spirit”)
- Bulgarian: мора (mora, “nightmare”)
- Macedonian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare”)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: мо̏ра (“nightmare”)
  
  Latin script: mȍra
  - Chakavian (Orbanići): Morȁ (“personified nightmare, female phantom”)
- Slovene: móra (“nightmare, owl”)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: móra (“nightmare, mythological creature that suffocates people in their sleep”), mora (“moth”)
  - Czech: můra (“nightmare, mythological creature that suffocates people in their sleep, moth”)
- Polish: (dialectal) mora (“nightly spirit that attacks people and horses in their sleep, nightly apparition, nightmare”); ⇒ zmora
- Pomeranian:
  - Kashubian: mòra
- Slovak: mora, mura (“demonical creature that torments people in their sleep”)

References

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “mare”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*morà”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 324: “f. ā ‘nightly spirit, nightmare’”

[1] Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “mare”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

[2] Derksen, Rick (2008) “*morà”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 324: “f. ā ‘nightly spirit, nightmare’”