Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xvoja

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

Alternative forms

*xvojь

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *skwajāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *skwoy-eh₂, from *skwey- (“needle, prickle, thorn”).

Baltic cognates include Lithuanian skujà (“needle of a coniferous tree”), dial. skujà (“twig of a pine tree cone, fish-scale”), Latvian skuja (“needle of a fir-tree”).

Indo-European cognates include Old Irish scé (“hawthorn”), Scottish Gaelic sceathan (“thorn bush”), Breton spezad (“gooseberry”), Cornish spedhas f (“briars”), Welsh ysbyddad (“hawthorn”), Pictish *ᚄᚚᚔᚌᚐᚇ (/⁠*spijad⁠/, “thorn”) (from Proto-Celtic *skʷiyats).

Noun

*xvòja f^[1]^[2]

needles or branches of a coniferous tree

Declension

Declension of *xvoja (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*xvoja	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
genitive	*xvoję̇	*xvoju	*xvojь
dative	*xvoji	*xvojama	*xvojamъ
accusative	*xvojǫ	*xvoji	*xvoję̇
instrumental	xvojejǫ, xvojǫ^**	*xvojama	*xvojami
locative	*xvoji	*xvoju	xvojasъ, xvojaxъ^*
vocative	*xvoje	*xvoji	*xvoję̇

^* -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).

Derived terms

Related terms

*xujь

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old Ruthenian: хво́ꙗ (xvója)
  - Belarusian: хво́я (xvója)
  - Ukrainian: хво́я (xvója); фо́я (fója) (dialectal)
- Russian: хво́я (xvója); хвоя́ (xvojá, “long moss on the tree; small brushwood”) (dialectal)
South Slavic:
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: хво́ја (“branch”) (dialectal)
  
  Latin script: hvója (“branch”) (dialectal)
- Slovene: hȏja, hvȏja (“spruce; conifer”); hovje (“needles or branches of conifer”) (archaic)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: chvojě (“needles or branches of conifer; conifer”)
  - Czech: chvoje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
    - Bohemian (Chod dialect): chvůje (“needles or branches of conifer, brushwood”)
- Polabian: χ́ǘöja (“pine tree”)
- Polish: choja (“conifer, pine or spruce”); chwoja (“conifer, pine”) (archaic)
- Old Slovak: chvoj
  - Slovak: chvoja (“young branches, a bunch of greens”), chvoj
- Sorbian:
  - Upper Sorbian: khója (“pine tree”) (obsolete)
  - ⇒ Lower Sorbian: chójanka (“young pine tree; spruce”)

References

^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*xvoja”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 206
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “hoja”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *xvoja̋”

Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*xvoja / *xvojь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 125
Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “хвоя”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “хвоя”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 337

[1] Derksen, Rick (2008) “*xvoja”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 206

[2] Snoj, Marko (2016) “hoja”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *xvoja̋”

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