Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/lęxъ

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

From earlier *lędxъ, from *lęděninъ (“dweller of heath, uncultivated field”) +‎ *-xъ.

Noun

*lęxъ m

1. Hypocoristic form of *lęděninъ

Declension

Declension of *lęxъ (hard o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*lęxъ	*lęxa	*lęśi
genitive	*lęxa	*lęxu	*lęxъ
dative	*lęxu	*lęxoma	*lęxomъ
accusative	*lęxъ	*lęxa	*lęxy
instrumental	*lęxъmь, *lęxomь*	*lęxoma	*lęxy
locative	*lęśě	*lęxu	*lęśěxъ
vocative	*lęše	*lęxa	*lęśi

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: лѧхъ (lęxŭ, “Pole”)
    • Old Ruthenian: лѧхъ (ljax), лєхъ (ljex)
      • Belarusian: лях (ljax)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: Лях (Ljax)
      • Ukrainian: лях (ljax)
      • → Czech: Ľach (dialectal)
      • → Polish: Lach
      • → Romanian: leah
      • → Ottoman Turkish: له (leh)
        • Turkish: Leh
        • → Middle Armenian: լեհ (leh)
          • Armenian: լեհ (leh)
    • Russian: лях (ljax) (see there for further descendants)
    • → Old Lithuanian:
      • Lithuanian: lénkas
• South Slavic:
  • Church Slavonic: лѧси pl (lęsi, “Poland”) (Czech recension), лехъ (lexŭ), лѣхъ (lěxŭ, “Pole”) (Serbian recension)
    • → Byzantine Greek: Λέχοι pl (Lékhoi, “Poles”)
    • → Czech: Lech (“Pole”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ле̏х (“Pole”) (obsolete)

    Latin script: lȅh (“Pole”) (obsolete)

• West Slavic:
  • >? Old Czech: lech (“plutocrat”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “лях”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Sławski, Franciszek (1970-1974) “Lach”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), volumes IV: La—Łapucha, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, page 17