Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/duša

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

Perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic *dáuṣjāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰowsyeh₂, from *dʰews- +‎ *-yeh₂. Equivalent to *duxъ (“spirit”) +‎ *-ja.

Compare Lithuanian daũsios f pl (“air; empyrean, paradise”), Gaulish dusios (“phantasm”).

Noun

*dušà f

1. soul
2. spirit

Declension

Declension of *dušà (soft a-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*dušà	*dȗši	*dȗšę̇
genitive	*dušę̇́	*dušù	*dũšь
dative	*dušì	*dušàma	*dušàmъ
accusative	*dȗšǫ	*dȗši	*dȗšę̇
instrumental	*dušejǫ́	*dušàma	*dušàmi
locative	*dȗšī	*dušù	*dušàsъ, *dušàxъ*
vocative	*duše	*dȗši	*dȗšę̇

^* -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.

Related terms

• *dušiti

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: доуша (duša)
    • Belarusian: душа́ (dušá)
    • Russian: душа́ (dušá)
    • Ukrainian: душа́ (dušá)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: доуша (duša)

    Glagolitic script: ⰴⱆⱎⰰ (duša)

  • Bulgarian: душа (duša)
  • Macedonian: душа (duša)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ду́ша

    Latin script: dúša

  • Slovene: dúša (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: dušě
    • Czech: duše
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): duše
      • Moravian (Mistřice): duša
  • Kashubian: dësza, dusza
  • Polabian: dausă
  • Polish: dusza
  • Slovak: duša
    • Sorbian:
      • Upper Sorbian: duša
      • Lower Sorbian: duša

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*duša”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 164