Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kleveta

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

Of uncertain provenance.

Vasmer connects it with *klьvati (“to peck, pick (of a bird)”). However, Trubachev proposes a better comparison with dialectal Czech kleviti(se) (“to gossip”) and Arkhangelsk dialectal Russian клевить (klevitʹ, “to tease, pester”).

Noun

*kleveta f

1. slander
2. defamation

Inflection

Declension of *kleveta (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kleveta	*klevetě	*klevety
genitive	*klevety	*klevetu	*klevetъ
dative	*klevetě	*klevetama	*klevetamъ
accusative	*klevetǫ	*klevetě	*klevety
instrumental	*klevetojǫ, *klevetǫ**	*klevetama	*klevetami
locative	*klevetě	*klevetu	*klevetasъ, *klevetaxъ*
vocative	*kleveto	*klevetě	*klevety

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *klevetati
• *klevetьnikъ

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: клевета (kleveta)
    • Ukrainian: клевета (kleveta)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: клевета (kleveta)

    Glagolitic script: ⰽⰾⰵⰲⰵⱅⰰ (kleveta)

    • → Russian: клевета (kleveta)
    • Bulgarian: клевета (kleveta)
    • Macedonian: клевета (kleveta)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: клѐвета

    Latin script: klèveta

• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: kleveta
    • Czech: kleveta
  • Slovak: klebeta

References

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “клевета”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress