The fate of the neuter o-stems in Balto-Slavic

1

RICK DERKSEN
1. Introduction: Illi-Svity 1963
In his monograph on nominal accentuation in Baltic and Slavic (1963), Illi-
Svity tried to explain why so many PIE neuter o-stems appear to have become
masculine in Slavic, an observation which was first made by Hirt (1893). A
comparison with accentual data from Baltic, Greek, Sanskrit and Germanic led
Illi-Svity to conclude that PIE barytone neuter o-stems correspond with Slavic
masculine o-stems belonging to the barytone class in the case of long roots
and to the oxytone class in the case of short roots (in Stangs terminology to
accent paradigms a and b, respectively). In originally masculine o-stems with a
non-acute root, accentual mobility has been generalized (Illi-Svitys law).
Thus, Slavic masculine o-stems belonging to AP (b) in principle continue old
neuters.
According to Illi-Svity, PIE oxytone neuter o-stems remain neuter in
Slavic. The majority of the Slavic neuter o-stems belong to the oxytone class (AP
b). Mobile neuter o-stems (AP c) contain, as a rule, a historically long root or
have a jo-suffix. Furthermore, the retraction generally known as Hirts law has
generated a class of neuter o-stems with fixed root stress (AP a).
PSl. *tl (a) back of the head, back (e.g. Ru. tyl, -a, Cz. tyl) < *tuHlom, cf.
Skt. tula- n. tuft, reed, panicle.
PSl. *dvr (b) courtyard, door (e.g. ak. dvor, Cz. dvr) < *d'uorom, cf.
Skt. dvra- n. door, gate, passage.
PSl. *zb (c) tooth (e.g. ak. zub, Sln. zb) < *omb'os, cf. Skt. jambha- m.
tooth, Gk. pin, nail, Lith. ambas sharp edge 2/4.
PSl. *jto (a) flock, herd (e.g. SCr. jato) < *jaHto < *jeh,tod << *jeh,tom, cf.
Skt. yta- n. course, motion.
PSl. *per (b) feather (e.g. Ru. pero, SCr. pro) < *pro < *pero < *perod <<
*perHom (*tperom?), cf. Gk. feather, wing.

1
This article is nearly identical with a paper presented at the ::. Fachtagung der Indogerma-
nischen Gesellschaft, Cracow 2004. Apart from an occasional reference, I had no ambition to
incorporate ideas that I developed in later publications.
RICK DERKSEN

60
PSl. *mso (c) meat, flesh (e.g. SCr. meso, Pl. miso) < *mmso < *mmsod
<< *mmsom, cf. Skt. msa- n. id..
2. Illi-Svity and the Baltic evidence
Though Illi-Svitys assessment of the evidence is occasionally questionable,
there can hardly be any doubt that his conclusions about the fate of the neuter
o-stems in Slavic are essentially correct. His treatment of the Baltic evidence is
much harder to evaluate. Illi-Svity agrees with Bonfante (1931) and
Kuryowicz in one of his earlier publications (1934) that in Lithuanian the
original neuter o-stems have preserved the PIE distinction between barytone
and oxytone accentuation comparatively well. Reliable examples with AP 1 or 2
are scarce, however, and a number of them must probably be interpreted
differently, as I intend to show below.
Lith. mdias 2 wood, forest : Skt. madhya- n. middle, Gk. id., cf.
OPr. median forest.
Lith. paras 2 piglet, barrow : OHG fara;h n. pig, S. Est. pahr hog <
*parha (but cf. OE fearh m./n., Fi. porsas piglet).
Lith. krajas 4 blood : Skt. kravya- n. raw meat.
An interesting element of Illi-Svitys discussion of the original neuter o-stems
in Baltic is the fact that like, among others, Hirt and Ebeling he assumes that the
NApl. was opposed to the NAsg. as to the position of the ictus. The PIE
evidence for such an opposition is very limited. Often cited examples are Gk.
thigh(-bone), Npl. vs. the collective , and tendon vs.
f. bowstring. The Slavic opposition between the singular and the plural
in the mobile paradigm arose when the stress was retracted from *-o in Balto-
Slavic, while in paradigm (b) stem-stressed NApl. forms, which occur alongside
end-stressed forms throughout the Slavic territory, can be traced to variation
between *-a and *- (the latter ending lost the stress to the preceding syllable).
Lith. lina 4 flax : PSl. *ln (b), Gk. id..
Lith. plaua 4 bast : PGmc. *fliusa fleece, e.g. OHG vlius n., OE fleos n.
3. The Nsg. of the neuter o-stems
It is remarkable that Illi-Svity, who reaches the conclusion that the Baltic and
Slavic accentual paradigms were identical, does not make an attempt to connect
the Slavic NAsg. -o with the Lithuanian ending -a, which now only occurs in
adjectives, participles and pronouns but must have been the East Baltic NAsg.
ending of neuter o-stem nouns, as is evident from Baltic borrowings in Finnic.
While he follows Nieminen in deriving the East Baltic ending from pronominal
*-od, Illi-Svity assumes that Slavic -o continues stressed *-om, a development
advocated by Hirt (1893). In my opinion, it would be natural to look for a
The fate of the neuter o-stems in Balto-Slavic

61
common origin. Since I do not believe that *-om ever yields Balto-Slavic *-o, the
best option would be to assume that in Balto-Slavic the ending *-om was
replaced by *-od in oxytone neuters. In that case one would expect Old Prussian
neuter o-stems to correspond to Slavic neuter o-stems and end-stressed neuters
in other Indo-European languages. The evidence seems indeed to point in that
direction, e.g. (cf. Kortlandt 1983: 183):
OPr. dalptan punch, instrument for making holes : PSl. *dolt (b), *delt
(b) chisel, e.g. Ru. doloto, SCr. dlijto, Cz. dlato.
OPr. creslan easy chair : PSl. *krslo (a), cf. Lith. krslas 1/3, Latv. krsls.
OPr. lunkan bast : PSl. *lko (a), e.g. SCr. lko, cf. Lith. lnkas 1, Latv. luks.
OPr. piwamaltan
2
malt : PSl. *molt (b), e.g. Cz. Slk. mlato draff.
OPr. prassan millet : PSl. *porso (c) id., e.g. Ru. proso, SCr. proso.
OPr. schutuan thread: Ru. dial. itvo needlework.
OPr. assaran lake : PSl. *ezero (c) id., e.g. SCr. jezero, NApl. jezra.
OPr. kelan wheel: OIc. hvel n. id., cf. PSl. *kolo (s-st.) id..
OPr. pedan ploughshare : Skt. pada- n. step, trace.
OPr. maldian foal, eristian lamb, wolistian [wosistian] kid: Gk.
little child, manikin < *-iom.
The following nouns require additional comments:
OPr. piuclan sickle, spertlan ball of the toe and sasintinklo rabbit-snares
contain a suffix corresponding with PSl. *-dlo. There are indications that
this suffix was always stressed in Late PBSl., except in those cases where
Hirts law applied (Derksen 1996: 105-113).
OPr. pirsten finger is in agreement with Skt. prha- n. back, mountain
ridge, but not with PSl. *prst (b) finger. The accentuation of Lith. pirtas
2 does not necessarily corroborate the Slavic barytone accent because the
root stress may originate from the East Baltic retraction from *-. I suspect
that in Slavic *-o was replaced analogically by *- at a stage when barytone
masculine o-stems continuing old neuters still had a NApl. in *-aH and may
have shown neuter agreement (Derksen 2008: 428-429, 2009: 18).
OPr. staytan [scaytan] shield and largasaytan stirrup-leather do not agree
with PSl. *it (b) shield and *sit (b) twining, e.g. OCz. sit (cf. OHG seid
cord < PGmc. *saia), but the suffix -tan seems to have become
productive, cf. anctan butter, baytan [saytan?] sieve, buttan house,
meltan flour, mettan year, saltan bacon, spanstan [spaustan?] mill-
spindle. Lith. skitas 2 reed (of a loom) may reflect *skoitom (but cf. OHG
skt log < *ska), while sitas 2/4 tie, leash vs. satas 2 id. may reflect

2
If not a borrowing from German, cf. Smoczyski 2000: 55.
RICK DERKSEN

62
accentual variants *soitom (or *soita) and *soit, cf. Latv. sata, sate cord,
leash with metatony.
The neuter gender of OPr. caulan bone finds no support elsewhere (see
also Petit 2001: 40), cf. Gk. stem, pole, Lat. caulis stem, plant, Latv.
kals bone, stem instead of *kauls (but cf. tilts).
It is uncertain if OPr. laygnan cheek is cognate with PSl. *lice (b) face.
Of course, the above-mentioned hypothesis implies that the Old Prussian
ending *-an is secondary (note that *-om would yield -on in Old Prussian), cf.
Schmalstieg 2003.
4. Balto-Slavic and East Baltic stress retractions
According to Kortlandt (1975: 4-7), the stress was retracted from final open
syllables (in disyllabic forms) unless the preceding syllable was closed by an
obstruent.
3
This Late Balto-Slavic retraction, which plays a role in explaining the
curve of the mobile paradigm, accounts for the accentual difference between
pila drank (f. sg.) and pilo drank (n. sg.) on the one hand and between pilo and
neslo carried (n. sg) on the other. As I pointed out in my dissertation, the
conditions of the law imply that in the Late Balto-Slavic neuter o-stems there
must have existed an oxytone paradigm besides the regular immobile and the
mobile paradigms. The reconstruction of an oxytone paradigm offers a solution
for the apparent metatony in certain Slavic neuter o-stems belonging to AP (b):
here the laryngeal was lost in pretonic position. In East Baltic, etyma which may
be assumed to have belonged to the oxytone paradigm characteristically have
root stress and metatony. For this reason, I posited an East Baltic retraction
from *-. The retraction sheds new light on Nieminens (and Kuryowiczs)
observation that there are comparatively many neuters among Baltic o-stems
belonging to AP 2. My hypothesis also has consequences for the interpretation
of the material in Illi-Svitys study.
Balto-Slavic
1. *-om >> *-od
2. *-om > *-um
3. Hirts law: the stress was retracted to an immediately preceding syllable
containing a vocalic element followed by a laryngeal.
4. *-od > *-o
5. Retraction of the stress from final open syllables in disyllabic forms unless
the preceding syllable was closed by an obstruent.

3
In early publications by Kortlandt and other Leiden accentologists this development is referred
to as Ebelings law, cf. Ebeling 1967.
The fate of the neuter o-stems in Balto-Slavic

63
Slavic
1. Loss of the laryngeals in pretonic position. The laryngeals were analogically
eliminated from barytone forms in mobile paradigms (Kortlandts
interpretation of Meillets law).
2. Illi-Svitys law: generalization of mobile accentuation in masculine o-
stems with a non-acute root.
3. Dybos law: rising vowels (at this stage non-acute, non-falling vowels) lost
the stress to the following syllable.
East Baltic
1. The stress was retracted from stressed a in absolute auslaut. As a
consequence, the mobile and oxytone paradigms merged.
2. In Lithuanian, the metatony and fixed stress on the root were generalized
throughout the paradigm. Latvian neuter o-stems with fixed root stress
became mobile.
3. In Latvian, one of the tones was generalized in roots displaying a tonal
alternation within the paradigm. In paradigms showing an alternation
between sustained tone and broken tone the broken tone was generalized.
In paradigms in which a (metatonical) sustained tone alternated with a
falling tone the sustained tone was generalized. In paradigms in which a
(metatonical) falling tone alternated with a broken tone the falling tone was
generalized.
5. Survey of the evidence
A. PIE barytona
PIE CC-om : CC-eh2 > PBSl. CC-um : CC-aH
Though the bifurcation which eventually led to the barytone neuter o-stems
becoming masculine may be Balto-Slavic, suppletive neuter plurals may have
existed both in Baltic and Slavic. For Slavic, I even see no other way to make
Illi-Svitys law work. The existence of suppletive neuter plurals may also
explain why we find so much vacillation between neuter and masculine o-stems
belonging to (b)
PSl. *ln (b) flax : OPr. lynno id..
PSl. *bb (b) bean : OPr. babo beans.
PSl. *vorta (b) gate : OPr. warto, Lith. vartai 2 id..
B. PIE oxytona
PIE CVC-m : CVC-h
2
>> PBSl. CVC-d : CVC-h
2
> PBSl. CVC- : CVC-H
B1. CVHC- : CVHC-H > CHC-o : CHC-aH
RICK DERKSEN

64
Hirts law generated new barytone neuters:
Lith. tltas 1, Latv. tilts bridge : Skt. trtha- n. passage, ford, stairs for
landing or for descent into a river, cf. Fi. silta bridge.
Lith. sietas 1/3, Latv. sits, OPr. baytan [saytan], PSl. sto (a) sieve.
Lith. lnkas 1, Latv. luks, OPr. lunkan, PSl. *lko bast, cf. Fi. lunka
remnants of bark.
B2. CVC
1
C
2
- : CVC
1
C
2
-H > CVC
1
C
2
- : CVC
1
C
2
-H (where C
1
is an obstruent)
PSl. (b): 'bgn ?;, 'bedr, 'sl, 'dsn, 'dpl, 'dn < 'dbn;, 'jdr,
'jtr, 'krdl, 'lekt, 'vn;tr, 'ptr, 'prgl, 'pk;l, 'rebr, 'rxl, sdl,
'stegn, 'stbl, 'stkl, 'skn, 'st, 'vesl, 'vdr, 'volkn, 'erdl, 'ezl.
Lith. tinklas 2/4 net, Latv. tkls id., cf. Fi. siula Seitennetz < *sikla
(Liukkonen 1999: 63). Fixed stress as a result of the East Baltic retraction
from *- rather than old barytone accentuation. Illi-Svity reconstructs a
barytone neuter on the basis of Skt. tantra- n. loom.
Lith. kerslas 2/4 chisel, cutter, PSl. *ersl (b) ploughshare. Here, too, Illi-
Svity reconstructs a barytone neuter, which leaves the neuter gender of the
Slavic form unexplained. I assume that the (older) Lithuanian variant with
AP 2 results from a retraction of the ictus.
PSl. *gnzd (b) nest : Skt. na- m./n. nest, lair, OHG nest n. Lith. lzdas 4
does not have the expected AP 2.
Examples of *-to preceded by an obstruent:
OPr. dalptan, PSl. *dolt (b).
Lith. gratas 2 gnawed off piece, sostas 2 (sostas 1) throne, plastas 2
(plaustas 1) ferry (grauti gnaw, ssti sit down, plausti wash, bathe), cf.
Fi. lautta ferry, raft (Liukkonen 1999: 34).
As one would expect, *-sto- is frequently accompanied by fixed stress and
metatony:
Lith. kalstas 2 pile, Latv. dests plant, grusts hut (kalti forge, hammer in,
dstit plant, graut destroy, grt collapse).
The suffix *-to apparently spread to roots which did not end in an obstruent.
According to Nikolaev (1989: 78-91), metatony in derivatives in -tas is
particularly frequent after recessive roots, which suggests a redistribution of
stressed and unstressed *-to.
The fate of the neuter o-stems in Balto-Slavic

65
PSl. *plt (b) flotsam (e.g. SCr. dial. pluto, NApl. pluta), Lith. platai 2
bath shelf, ferry, raft, Latv. pluts
:
shelf, cf. Fi. lauta bath shelf.
4

Lith. stotas build 2, dotas 2 gift (stoti stand, duoti give).
B3. CVC- : CVC-H > CC-o : CVC-H
PSl. (b): 'el, 'erv, 'grn, 'lc, 'lo, 'melk, 'pletj, 'ptj, 'rn, 'sel,
'tl, 'vn.
PSl. (c): *budo, *blgo, *buxo, *ervo (secondary s-st.?), *drvo, *goe, *jro,
*jgo, *krosno, *ldo, *mso, *moe, *pvo, *poe, *proso, *sno, *tsto, *zlto.
PSl. *per (< *pro) feather, NApl. *per (b) : Gk. feather, wing.
PSl. *jje egg, NApl. jj (c) : Gk. id..
PSl. *vno (c) bride-price (e.g. Ru. veno, Cz. vno) : Gk. bride-
price. In view of the cluster *-dn-, one would expect this etymon to belong
to AP (b). We do actually find SCr. (arch. dial.) vijno wedding, bride
price, but, as was pointed out by Eric Hamp (1968), this form may have
been influenced by vijnac wreath, wedding.
PSl. *sto (c) hundred, Lith. imtas 2/4 id. : Skt. ata- n. id.
Leiden
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Hirt. Hermann
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364.

4
For the words meaning shelf the relationship with plauti wash, bathe, overflow is uncertain
(pace Illi-Svity, who reconstructs a PIE barytone neuter *ploutom floating object, board).
RICK DERKSEN

66
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