< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/mora

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

From Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“malicious female spirit”), possibly from *mor-, *mer- (“to die”), see also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), English nightmare.[1]

Noun

*morà f[2]

  1. nightly spirit
  2. nightmare

Declension
Declension of *mora (hard a-stem)
singular dual plural
nominative *mora *morě *mory
genitive *mory *moru *morъ
dative *morě *morama *moramъ
accusative *morǫ *morě *mory
instrumental *morojǫ, *morǫ** *morama *morami
locative *morě *moru *morasъ, *moraxъ*
vocative *moro *morě *mory
* -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:
    • Russian: мо́ра (móra, “mythological female creature, ghost, darkness”) (dialectal)
    • Ukrainian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare, house-spirit”) (dialectal)
  • South Slavic:
    • Old Church Slavonic:
      Old Cyrillic script: мора (mora)
      Glagolitic script: [Term?]
      • → Romanian: moroi (“spirit”)
    • Bulgarian: мора (mora, “nightmare”)
    • Macedonian: мо́ра (móra, “nightmare”)
    • Serbo-Croatian:
      Cyrillic script: мо̏ра (“nightmare”)
      Latin script: mȍra
      • Chakavian (Orbanići): Morȁ (“personified nightmare, female phantom”)
    • Slovene: móra (“nightmare, owl”)
  • West Slavic:
    • Czech: můra (“nightmare, mythological creature that suffocates people in their sleep, moth”)
    • Polish: mora (“nightly spirit that attacks people and horses in their sleep, nightly apparition, nightmare”) (dialectal)
    • Slovak: mora, mura (“demonical creature that torments people in their sleep”)

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “mare”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. Derksen, Rick (2008) “*morà”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 324: “f. ā ‘nightly spirit, nightmare’”
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