Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/pyrъ

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.

Formally from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pū́ˀras m, *pū́ˀra n (descendants flucturate between mobile /in Lithuanian/ and fixed /in Slavic/ accent paradigms), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *puHrós (“sort of wild wheat”)^[1] (according to Witczak, originally Triticum compactum). Cognate with Lithuanian pū̃ras (“corn of winter-wheat”) (plural pūraĩ refers to the plant), Latvian pûr̨i pl (“winter wheat”), Old Prussian pure f (“rye brome”), Ancient Greek πῡρός (pūrós, “wheat”).

Synchronically, represents an o-stem variant of i-stems *pyrь, *pyrьjь, with no discernable difference in meaning. Possibly diachronically formed as a (common) objective counterpart to an earlier (neuter) r/n-stem mass noun. Similar constructions are also found in Proto-Indo-European *wesh₂erós (“spring corn”), *sweh₂réh₂ (“millet”) (whence Lithuanian sóra (“common millet”), Western-Curonian dial. Latvian sūra (“a kind of panicgrass”)).

(The similarity to Chuvash пӑри (pări, “farro or spelt”), occassionally noted in the literature, is sometimes dismissed as a coincidence in view of its supposed derivation from Proto-Turkic *bugday (“wheat etc.”). However, Róna-Tas et al. reject this and argue that it is indeed related to Proto-Slavic *pyrъ. ^[2])

*pỳrъ m^[1][3]

1. wild rye, couch grass (Elymus spp.)
2. spelt (Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta)

• *pỳro n,^[4] *pỳra f (relic collective)

• *pyriti (sę) (“to flourish in spelt/couch grass (for field, area)”)
• *pyrika, *pyrina, *pyrovina (“stem, root, or plant material of wheatgrass plant”)
• *pyrьnъ (“partaining to wheatgrass”)
  • *pyrьnikъ m, *pyrьnica f (“couch grass”) (in languages where the primary term refers to “spelt”)

From masc. o-stem, typically referring to “couch grass”:

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: пир (pir) (dialectal)
    • ⇒ пи́рел (pírel, “ryegrass”) (dialectal, formally from *pyryľь)
  • Macedonian: пир (pir)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пи̏р

    Latin script: pȉr

• West Slavic:
  • Czech: pýr
  • Slovak: pýr
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: pyr

From neut. o-stem, typically referring to “spelt”:

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: пꙑро (pyro)
    • Russian: пыро (pyro) (obsolete)
    • Ukrainian: пиро (pyro) (obsolete)
• South Slavic:
  • Russian Church Slavonic: пꙑро (pyro)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пи̏ро, пѝрика (dialectal)

    Latin script: pȉrо, pìrika (dialectal)

  • Slovene: pȋro (obsolete), píra
    • ⇒ zapíriti se (“to grow full with couch grass; to become red, to blush”)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “пыро”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Duridanov, I. V., Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (1996), “пир²”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 5 (падѐж – пỳска), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 250
• Трубачёв, Олег Николаевич (a. 2002) Труды по этимологии: Слово · История · Культура (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Языки славянской культуры, published 2004, →ISBN, page 772
• Furlan, Metka (2016) Prispevki k slovenski in slovanski etimologiji (Linguistica et philologica), volume 32, Ljubljana: Založba ZRC SAZU, →ISBN, pages 123-124
• “pūrai”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
• Nieminen, Eino (1956) “Die Benennungen der Hirse in den baltischen Sprachen”, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume 74. 3./4., pages 162–176