Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/lěstvica

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

By surface analysis, *lěstva +‎ *-ica

Noun

*lěstvica f^[1]

(a small) ladder?

Inflection

Declension of *lěstvica (soft a-stem)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*lěstvica	*lěstvici	*lěstvicę̇
genitive	*lěstvicę̇	*lěstvicu	*lěstvicь
dative	*lěstvici	*lěstvicama	*lěstvicamъ
accusative	*lěstvicǫ	*lěstvici	*lěstvicę̇
instrumental	lěstvicejǫ, lěstvicǫ^**	*lěstvicama	*lěstvicami
locative	*lěstvici	*lěstvicu	lěstvicasъ, lěstvicaxъ^*
vocative	*lěstvice	*lěstvici	*lěstvicę̇

^* -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).

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: лѣствица (lěstvica)
  - Belarusian: ле́сьві́ца (ljésʹvíca)
  - Ukrainian: ле́сьвiца (lésʹvica) (dialectal)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic script: лѣствица (lěstvica)
  - → Russian: ле́ствица (léstvica) (obsolete)
  - Bulgarian: ле́ствица (léstvica) (obsolete)
  - Macedonian: лествица (lestvica)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: ле̏ствица, ље̏ствица
  
  Latin script: lȅstvica, ljȅstvica
- Slovene: lẹ́stvica (tonal orthography)

References

^ Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*lěstvica”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 14 (*labati – *lěteplъjь), Moscow: Nauka, page 247

[1] Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*lěstvica”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 14 (*labati – *lěteplъjь), Moscow: Nauka, page 247

[1]