View source for Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/cěsařь

{{reconstructed}}
==Proto-Slavic==

===Alternative forms===
* {{l|sla-pro|*cesarjь}}
* {{qualifier|unaccented *ě reduced to *ь}}: {{l|sla-pro|*cьsarjь}}
* {{qualifier|unaccented *ь dropped from *cьsarjь}}: {{l|sla-pro|*carь}}

===Reconstruction===
Vocalism of the initial syllable is uncertain. Attested forms point to reconstructions *cěsarjь, *cesarjь and *cьsarjь. The first two are attested in OCS and CS. CS additionally contains attestations for ''cьsarь'' and ''carь'' in Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian Church Slavonic. The form *cьsarjь has been explained as a common shortening of a form of address for persons; compare English {{m|en|king}} < Germanic {{m|gem-pro|*kuningaz}}, English {{m|en|miss}} < {{m|en|mistress}}.

Reflexes of *cěsarjь are attested in the NW parts of Slavdom. The form *cesarjь underpins the Western South Slavic forms, whereas the Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian CS forms reflect *cьsarjь.

This variation could come from two reasons:
* lateness of borrowing, when Common Slavic already began disintegrating into different dialects
* the term was borrowed multiple times

===Etymology===
Ultimately from ''Caesar'', the name of {{w|Julius Caesar}}, whose name became part of the Roman emperor's title. The name was very early borrowed into Germanic as {{m|gem-pro|*kaisaraz}}, whence it was borrowed into Slavic from an unknown source.

The most commonly regarded etymon cited in the literature is Gothic {{m|got|𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂}}, though such assignment is problematic. Old High German and Old
Saxon forms with the suffix ''-ur'' are less plausible etymons. Formal mismatches with Gothic form include:
* Germanic short */a/ regularly yields */o/ in Common Slavic, and the reconstructions for the vowel suffix point to a short */a/. The regular suffix from the Gothic form would have been {{m|sla-pro||**-or}}.
* Even if we are dealing with analogical leveling to the productive agentive suffix {{m|sla-pro|*-arjь|*-ārjь}}, this still doesn't fully explain the short vowel. Slovene form points to a short suffixal vowel, since the accent retracted from short final vowels.
* If the short suffixal */-a-/ represents a late borrowing, after the Common Slavic rephonemicization of qualitative oppositions into quantitative ones, then this would exclude Gothic as the donor languages because the Goths lost their dominance in the Pontic region around the fifth century, well before such process took place.

===Noun===
{{sla-noun|m}} (''accent paradigm B'')

# [[emperor]], [[king]]

====Declension====
{{sla-decl-noun}}

====Descendants====
For forms *cěsarjь and *cesarjь:
* East Slavic:
** Old East Slavic: {{l|orv|цѣсарь}}, {{l|orv|цесарь}}
* Russian: {{l|ru|це́сарь}} 
* Ukrainian: {{l|uk|цісар}}
* South Slavic:
** Old Church Slavonic:
**: Cyrillic: {{l|cu|sc=Cyrs|цѣсарь}}
**: Glagolitic: {{l|cu|sc=Glag|ⱌⱑⱄⰰⱃⱐ}}
** Serbo-Croatian:
**: Cyrillic: {{l|sh|це̏сар}}
**: Latin: {{l|sh|cȅsar}}
** Slovene: {{l|sl|cêsar}}
* West Slavic:
** Old Czech: [[ciesař]]
*** Czech: {{l|cs|císař}}
**** → Slovak: {{l|sk|cisár}}
** Kashubian: {{l|csb|césôrz}}
** Polish: {{l|pl|cesarz}}

===References===
* {{R:ru:Vasmer|царь}}
* {{R:sla:Pronk-Tiethoff 2013|99ff}}