Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/toporъ

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

Picture dictionary

*sěčivo *toporъ

Etymology

Possible origin:

Per Brückner,^[1] Trubačev, Meillet, Miklošič: Borrowed from Iranian language (Old Persian *tapara-).
- Per Zaliznyak,^[2] Martynov^[3]: Iranian *tapara is metathesized from *parata, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *paraćúš. Related to Ossetian фӕрӕт (færæt, “axe”), Tocharian B peret (“axe”). See also Chuvash пуртӑ (purt̬ă, “axe”) and Bashkir балта (balta, “axe”), Turkic balta (>? Russian балта (balta), ?балда (balda)).^[4]
- Related to Middle Persian [script needed] (tabrak), modern Persian (tabar), Northern Kurdish tevir / Central Kurdish ته‌ڤر (tevir), Baluchi [script needed] (tapar), Eastern Mari товар (tovar), Even тобар (toʙar), Tat тевер and Old Armenian / Armenian տապար (tapar).
Per Mladenov, Vasmer, Chernykh, Snoj: somehow from *teti (“to beat”), *tepetь. Compare Russian тёпать (tjópatʹ, “тяпать, рубить топором, сечкой”),^[5] see also тяпка (tjapka, “hoe”), тяп (tjap, “удар топором, сечкой”)^[6].
- From some o-grade noun/verb [Term?] +‎ *-orъ. Compare Czech sochor < *soxa, *kosorъ/*kosořь (: *koserъ/*kosěrъ, *kosyřь?, *kosařь) < *kosa / ?*kositi, *stoborъ < *stebʰ-.
- Compare *čekanъ/*čakanъ < Common Turkic *čak- (“to strike”) (> Hungarian csákány (“pickaxe”)), Old Irish bïáil (“axe, hatchet”), Proto-Germanic *bilją (“blade; axe; sword”) < *bʰeyH- (“to strike, beat; hew”) / *bʰeyh₂- (> *bidlo).
Per Зубатый: related to *topati (onomatopoeia), *tъpъtati (<? *(s)tewp-) and possibly Ukrainian тепорити (teporyty, “to drag, to tug”) (: ?Russian тепсти (tepsti, “тянуть, тащить, везти с усилием”)^[7]).

Compare *sekyra (“axe”) : ?*sěťi (“to cut, mow”) (> *sěčivo, *dervosěkъ, *drъvosěkъ), *tesla (“adze”) : *tesati (“to hew”) and *oskъrdъ < *(s)kérdʰh₁eti (“to cut”), *bordy <? Proto-Germanic *bardō < ?, *okъša? < Proto-Germanic *akwisī (“axe”). See also *tęti, *drъvotonь (“wood-cutting place”), *kolti, *rǫbiti : ?*remeslo.

Noun

*topòrъ m^[8]^[9]

axe, hatchet
Synonym: *sekyra

Declension

Declension of *topòrъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*topòrъ	*toporà	*toporì
genitive	*toporà	*toporù	*topòrъ
dative	*toporù	*toporòma	*toporòmъ
accusative	*topòrъ	*toporà	*toporỳ
instrumental	toporъ̀mь, toporòmь^*	*toporòma	*topòry
locative	*toporě̀	*toporù	*topòrěxъ
vocative	*topore	*toporà	*toporì

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

*toporišče (“axe pole”)

Related terms

*tepadlo, *tepadlьnikъ (“bat, beater”)

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: топоръ (toporŭ)
  - Old Ruthenian: топо́ръ (topór)
    - Belarusian: тапо́р (tapór)
    - Ukrainian: топі́р (topír)
  - Russian: топо́р (topór)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  - Bulgarian: топо́р (topór)
  - Church Slavonic: топоръ (toporŭ) (Russian)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: то̏пор
  
  Latin script: tȍpor
- Slovene: tópor; tôpor (obsolete)
West Slavic:
- Czech: topor
- Polish: topór
- Slovak: topor
- Sorbian:
  - ⇒ Lower Sorbian: toporišćo
  - Upper Sorbian: toporo

→ Aromanian: tãpor
→ Romanian: topor

References

^ Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “topór”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna
^ Зализняк, А. А. (1962) “Проблемы славяно-иранских языковых отношений древнейшего периода”, in Вопросы славянского языкознания, number 6, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, page 40
^ В. В. Мартынов (1981) “Балто-славяно-иранские языковые отношения и глоттогенез славян: tesla – sekyra – toporъ 'топор'.”, in Балто-славянские исследования. 1980., Moscow: Nauka, page 26
^ Lars Johanson, Éva Ágnes Csató, editors (2022), The Turkic Languages, 2 edition, Routledge, →DOI, Proto-Turkic and other language families
^ Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тети́”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 760
^ Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тя́пать”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 906
^ Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тепсти́”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 750
^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “toporъ”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “b økse (PR 134)”
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “topor”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *toporъ̏”

[1] Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “topór”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna

[2] Зализняк, А. А. (1962) “Проблемы славяно-иранских языковых отношений древнейшего периода”, in Вопросы славянского языкознания, number 6, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, page 40

[3] В. В. Мартынов (1981) “Балто-славяно-иранские языковые отношения и глоттогенез славян: tesla – sekyra – toporъ 'топор'.”, in Балто-славянские исследования. 1980., Moscow: Nauka, page 26

[4] Lars Johanson, Éva Ágnes Csató, editors (2022), The Turkic Languages, 2 edition, Routledge, →DOI, Proto-Turkic and other language families

[5] Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тети́”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 760

[6] Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тя́пать”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 906

[7] Dal, Vladimir (1909) “тепсти́”, in Толковый Словарь живого великорусскаго языка [Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 4, товарищество М. О. Вольфъ, page 750

[8] Olander, Thomas (2001) “toporъ”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎^[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “b økse (PR 134)”

[9] Snoj, Marko (2016) “topor”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “Pslovan. *toporъ̏”

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