Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/porťa

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 1

*porťa

From *pьrati (“to beat, hit”) +‎ *-ťa.

Noun

*porťa f

1. (West and South Slavic) sling (projectile weapon)

   Synonym: *porkъ

Inflection

Declension of *porťa (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*porťa	*porťi	*porťę̇
genitive	*porťę̇	*porťu	*porťь
dative	*porťi	*porťama	*porťamъ
accusative	*porťǫ	*porťi	*porťę̇
instrumental	*porťejǫ, *porťǫ**	*porťama	*porťami
locative	*porťi	*porťu	*porťasъ, *porťaxъ*
vocative	*porťe	*porťi	*porťę̇

^* -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

• *porkъ (“sling”)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: праща (prašta)
    • → Old East Slavic: праща (prašča)
      • Old Ruthenian: пра́ща (prášča)
        • Belarusian: пра́шча (prášča)
        • ⇒ Carpathian Rusyn: пра́шка (práška)
        • Ukrainian: пра́ща (prášča)
      • Russian: праща́ f (praščá), пра́щ m (prášč)
  • ⇒ Bulgarian: пра́шка (práška), пра́щва (práštva)
  • Macedonian: праќа (praḱa)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Latin script: prȁća

    Cyrillic script: пра̏ћа

  • Slovene: práča (tonal orthography)
    • ⇒ Slovene: fráča (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Polish: proca
    • Polish: proca

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Hungarian: parittya (“sling”)
  • → Romanian: praștie (“sling”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “праща”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Nikolayev S. L. (2005) Карпатоукраинско-паннонская изоглосса (рефлексы праславянских сочетаний *tj и *dj), page 5
• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “proca”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 483
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “праща”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “прашча”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka

Etymology 2

From *portiti (“to send, dispatch, emit”) +‎ *-ja. For the meaning shift compare Serbo-Croatian посао (“job, work”) (< *posъlъ, from *posъlati (“to send, delegate”)).

Noun

*porťa f

1. (West Slavic) toil, effort

   Synonym: *trudъ

2. (West Slavic) work (activity)

   Synonym: *dělo

Inflection

Declension of *porťa (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*porťa	*porťi	*porťę̇
genitive	*porťę̇	*porťu	*porťь
dative	*porťi	*porťama	*porťamъ
accusative	*porťǫ	*porťi	*porťę̇
instrumental	*porťejǫ, *porťǫ**	*porťama	*porťami
locative	*porťi	*porťu	*porťasъ, *porťaxъ*
vocative	*porťe	*porťi	*porťę̇

^* -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

• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: prácě
    • Czech: práce
    • → Old Polish: praca
      • Polish: praca
        • → Kashubian: prôca
        • → Russian: пра́ца (práca)
        • → Slovincian: proca
      • → Samogitian: (possibly via a Polish or Ruthenian intermediate) pruocė
      • Silesian: prŏca
      • → Old Ruthenian: пра́ца (práca)
        • Belarusian: пра́ца (práca)
        • Carpathian Rusyn: пра́ца (práca)
        • Ukrainian: пра́ця (prácja)
    • → Kashubian: prôca
    • → Slovincian: proca
  • Old Polish: *proca
    • ⇒ Old Polish: procować (“to work”)
  • Slovak: práca
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: próca
    • Lower Sorbian: proca

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “праца”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “praca”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 478
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “праця”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “праца”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka