овъ

Forms

овъ (ovŭ)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *ovъ (“this, that”), a demonstrative pronoun of Proto-Slavic age that in the Slavic languages points at nearer as well as more distant things.^[2][3][1] The same word is Old East Slavic овъ (ovŭ), Russian овый (ovyj) (dialectal), Ukrainian овий (ovyj), Macedonian овој (ovoj), Serbo-Croatian òvāj, Slovene ǫ́v, Polish ów, Upper Sorbian jow and Lower Sorbian how, meaning "that", "some" or "this here".^[2][3][1]

Derksen and Wiktionary trace it through Proto-Balto-Slavic *awas to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-o-s.^[3][1] ESJS notes that the pronoun has a sure counterpart only in Indo-Iranian, Avestan ava- (“that”) and Old Persian ava-, while the other Indo-European languages have a particle *au, as in Ancient Greek αὖ (aû, “again, on the other hand”), Latin aut (“or”), autem (“but”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺 (auk) and Old High German ouh.^[2][3] From the meanings of these words ESJS concludes that pointing at the more distant object was the original function.^[2]

Not all accept the direct link with the Iranian pronoun: the Słownik prasłowiański, followed by Schuster-Šewc, takes the declined pronoun as secondary, built on the inherited particle ово, and Pisani and Martynov saw in it an Iranian element in early Slavic, a view ESJS ascribes to the lack of a matching pronoun in Baltic.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Gospel manuscripts the word is used mostly in pairs that render Ancient Greek ὁ (ho) … δέ, “the one … the other”, as in the crucifixion of the two thieves, ового оубо о деснѫѭ • а дроугаего о лѣвѫѭ “one on the right and the other on the left” (L 23, 33 Zogr Mar As Sav).^[4][5] In the parable of the vineyard ового бишѧ ового же оубишѧ renders ὃν μὲν… ὃν δέ, “one they beat, another they killed” (Mt 21, 35 Mar As).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The SJS lists the pronoun in the Gospels, the Apostolos, the Euchologium Sinaiticum, the Codex Clozianus and above all the Codex Suprasliensis, where TOROT counts 43 uses.^[5][6] Besides the paired use, it serves less often as a plain demonstrative “this, that”, and as an indefinite “some”, as in ови же оусѫмьнѣшѧ сѧ “but some doubted” (Mt 28, 17), where the Savvina kniga has они instead.^[5][4] In some Apostolos manuscripts it renders a Greek article by mistake (G 5, 24).^[5]

The neuter ово became a conjunction, ово … ово “either … or, partly … partly”, and the stem took particles in овъде “there”, овамо “thither” and овогда “at one time”.^[2] Miklosich records the paired pronoun and ово ли … ово ли in later Church Slavonic texts, Serbian and Russian among them.^[7]

Timeline

• End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the Euchologium Sinaiticum renders the Greek relative Ancient Greek ὅς (hós) with овъ.^[8]
• Until the beginning of the 15th century – a Serbian translation from the Rila Monastery uses it for Ancient Greek οὗτος (hoûtos).^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. In pairs овъ … овъ, овъ … дроугꙑи, овъ … инъ: the one … the other; for ὁ μὲν … ὁ δέ, ὃς μὲν … ὃς δέ.^[5][4]
2. this, that (demonstrative, rare); for ὁ μέν.^[5][4][1]
3. some, certain ones (indefinite); for ὁ δέ, ὃς μέν.^[5]

Word family

• овъде
• овамо
• овогда
• ово

Related words

• сь
• тъ
• онъ

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Havlová, Eva; Erhart, Adolf; Janyšková, Ilona (eds.) (1989–2022), Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského, 21 fascicles, Praha: Academia / Brno: Tribun EU, p. 612
3. ^ a b c d Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Slovník nejstarších staroslověnských památek (digital ed., Gorazd, Slovanský ústav AV ČR, gorazd.org); cf. Cejtlin, R. M.; Večerka, R.; Blagova, É. (eds.) (1994), Staroslavjanskij slovar' (po rukopisjam X–XI vekov), Moskva: Russkij jazyk
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
6. ^ Eckhoff, Hanne M.; Berdicevskis, Aleksandrs et al., TOROT: The Tromsø Old Russian and OCS Treebank, release 20200116, torottreebank.github.io
7. ^ Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
8. ^ a b SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de