Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mačьka

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

Most likely from *maca (“pussycat, kitty”) +‎ *-ьka (diminutive suffix); however, note that *maca is only attested in South Slavic. Possibly it used to have a wider distribution. Alternatively perhaps from the same onomatopeic form that gave rise to *maca independently suffixed with *-ьka; compare Serbo-Croatian mac (“utterance used to summon cats”).

Noun

*mačьka f

1. cat

Inflection

Declension of *mačьka (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mačьka	*mačьcě	*mačьky
genitive	*mačьky	*mačьku	*mačьkъ
dative	*mačьcě	*mačьkama	*mačьkamъ
accusative	*mačьkǫ	*mačьcě	*mačьky
instrumental	*mačьkojǫ, *mačьkǫ**	*mačьkama	*mačьkami
locative	*mačьcě	*mačьku	*mačьkasъ, *mačьkaxъ*
vocative	*mačьko	*mačьcě	*mačьky

^* -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

• East Slavic:
  • Carpathian Rusyn: ма́чка (máčka)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: мацка (macka)
  • Macedonian: мачка (mačka)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ма̏чка

    Latin script: mȁčka

  • Slovene: mȃčka
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: mačka
  • Slovak: mačka

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Hungarian: macska

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1990), “*macьkъ / *macьka / *mačьkъ / *mačьka”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 17 (*lъžь – *matješьnъjь), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 113