Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/maca

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

Likely onomatopoeic.

Compare German Mieze (“pussy, pussycat, female cat”), Mietzchen (“pussy, kitty”), French matou (“tomcat”), Albanian mace (“cat”).

Noun

*maca f

pussy, pussycat, female cat

Inflection

Declension of *maca (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*maca	*maci	*macę̇
genitive	*macę̇	*macu	*macь
dative	*maci	*macama	*macamъ
accusative	*macǫ	*maci	*macę̇
instrumental	macejǫ, macǫ^**	*macama	*macami
locative	*maci	*macu	macasъ, macaxъ^*
vocative	*mace	*maci	*macę̇

^* -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).

Derived terms

*macę, *mačę (“kitten, kitty”)
*macьkъ / *macьka / *mačьkъ / *mačьka
*mačerъ (“cat”)
*mačęťь (“cat's, feline, catlike”)
*mačьjь (“cat's, feline, catlike”)

Descendants

South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: ма́ца (máca)
- Macedonian: маца (maca)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: ма́ца
  
  Latin script: máca
- Slovene: muca

→ Albanian: macë
→ Turkish: maçka, maçi
→ Hungarian: macska
→ Greek: μάτσιου (mátsiou)