Etymologically
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тꙑ

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Forms

тꙑ (ty); Glagolitic ⱅⱏⰺ[1] Declined: genitive тебе, dative тебѣ or ти, accusative тѧ or тебе, locative тебѣ, instrumental тобоѭ.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Slavic *ty (“you (singular)”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *tūˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.[1][3] The same word is Russian ты (ty), Ukrainian ти (ty), Bulgarian ти (ti), Serbo-Croatian tȋ, Slovene tȋ, Czech ty, Slovak ty and Polish ty.[3][4][1]

The closest relatives are Lithuanian tù, Latvian tu and Old Prussian tou.[3][5][4] Sadnik and Aitzetmüller and Vasmer start from an Indo-European pronoun of the second person *tū, which also had a form with a short vowel, the source also of Latin tū, Doric τύ (tú) and Attic σύ (sú) (whose initial consonant Vasmer explains from the oblique cases), Gothic 𐌸𐌿 (þu) and Old High German dū.[5][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is one of the commonest words of the oldest texts, with more than 2,000 instances in the SNSP, for Ancient Greek σύ (sú).[2] In the Gospels: азъ трѣбоуѭ отъ тебе крьстити сѧ • а тꙑ ли къ мнѣ грѧдеши "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" (Mt 3, 14, Zographensis, Savvina kniga and other manuscripts).[7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the plain pronoun, the dative ти or тебѣ (very rarely the genitive тебе) served as a possessive, alternating in the manuscripts with the possessive pronoun твои: the Codex Marianus has с‹ꙑ›нъ ти живъ естъ "your son lives" (J 4, 51) where the Zographensis has твои.[7][2] The Euchologium Sinaiticum uses it for σύ and also for the possessive Ancient Greek σός (sós, “your”).[8] Giltebrandt's dictionary of the Church Slavonic New Testament gathers all the oblique cases of the pronoun under the one head.[9]

Timeline

  • End of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century – the Euchologium Sinaiticum renders σύ with тꙑ.[8]
  • Up to the beginning of the 15th century – a Serbian text of the Rila monastery uses it for σύ.[8]
  • 1882–1885 – Giltebrandt lists every case of the pronoun in the Church Slavonic New Testament.[9]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. you (singular), thou, the pronoun of the second person; for σύ.[7][2][1]
  2. In the dative ти, тебѣ: your, of you, in a possessive sense; for σου.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 502
  4. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 4, 130
  5. ^ a b Sadnik, Linda; Aitzetmüller, Rudolf (1955), Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchenslavischen Texten, Heidelberg: Winter / 's-Gravenhage: Mouton, p. 323
  6. ^ Miklosich, Franz (1862–1865), Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum emendatum auctum, Vindobonae: Braumüller
  7. ^ a b c d Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
  8. ^ a b c SlaVaComp Metaglossar Griechisch–Kirchenslavisch, Universität Freiburg, slavistik-portal.de
  9. ^ a b Gil'tebrandt, P. A. (1882–1885), Spravočnyj i ob''jasnitel'nyj slovar' k Novomu Zavetu, 6 vols., Sankt-Peterburg