Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/olьxa

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 reconstructions

*elьxa, *(j)elьxa

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élis-.

Noun

*olьxa f[1][2]

alder

Declension

Declension of *olьxa (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*olьxa	*olьśě	*olьxy
genitive	*olьxy	*olьxu	*olьxъ
dative	*olьśě	*olьxama	*olьxamъ
accusative	*olьxǫ	*olьśě	*olьxy
instrumental	olьxojǫ, olьxǫ^**	*olьxama	*olьxami
locative	*olьśě	*olьxu	olьxasъ, olьxaxъ^*
vocative	*olьxo	*olьśě	*olьxy

^* -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).

Related terms

*olьša, *elьša (ja-stem)

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: ольха (olĭxa), вольха (volĭxa)
  - Belarusian: во́льха (vólʹxa)
  - Russian: ольха́ (olʹxá)
  - Ukrainian: ві́льха (vílʹxa)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic script: ольха (olĭxa)
- Bulgarian: елша́ (elšá), елха́ (elhá) (елха means “Christmas tree”)
- Macedonian: евла (evla)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: јо́ха, јо́ва
  
  Latin script: jóha, jóva
- Slovene: ọ́lša, jẹ́lša (tonal orthography)
West Slavic:
- Polish: olcha
- Slovak: jelša, ol'xa (dialectal)

References

Trubachyov, O., Zhuravlyov, A. F., editors (2005), “*olьxa”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 32 (*obžьnъ – *orzbotati), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 81
Snoj, Marko (2016) “jelša”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *jelьša̋, *olьša̋”