Kontrakce a Konjugace

1. The principal chronological problem of Slavonic (pre-historic) contraction is the hitherto not completely solved question as to whether it occured before the decline of the jer-vowels. The following investigation gives evidence for this chronology. Only verbs such as sъměješь "you dare, may", jьgraješь "you play" realize the contraction (cf. Old Czech smieš, jhráš), whereas other verbs, such as směješь sę "you laugh", laješь "you bark, scold" are not contracted (cf. Old Czech směješ sě, laješ). Thus the presence of the jer-vowels was obligatory for the contraction. This chronology is extremely important not only for the research of the whole morphonologic system of this period but also for the reconstruction of several individual verbs. 2. Thus rise of the present paradigm of the verb děti "say" i. e. dieš, die... cannot be interpreted by contraction for the supposed starting form děješь was not able to enforce it. That is why the opposition děju "I make, put": diem "I say" (= ProtoSlav. dějǫ : děmь) has to be regarded as original and consequently perfectly identical (both as to form and meaning) with the Hittite pair tehi "I put" : temi "I say" and the verb děmь together with verbs such as damь "I give", jěmь "I eat" a. s. o. as belonging to the class of the athematic verbs. 3. In spite of the fact that the reconstruction of the verb znati (in this form) "to know" is commonly accepted the realization of the contraction in present forms (f. e. Czech znáš) gives evidence of the presence of a jer-vowel in the first syllable, i. e. zьnaješь etc. This circumstance allows this verb to be reconstructed as zьnati and to be directly connected with the Baltic form zinā-. Thus the common Balto-Slavonic form of this verb is doubtless zinā-. 4. The verb necháš ”you leave" was not prefixed: the supposed simplex *chaješь could therefore not have be contracted. 5.—6. The Old Czech forms trá "it takes (time)", plá "it flames" could not originate in the contraction. The former has developed from the form tr̭vá (keeping the monosyllabic structure of the basis in the opposition to the bisyllabizated one tṛvá); the latter has arisen morphologicly, i. e. the pair pláti : (pole >) plá has been formed according to the more frequent opposition znáti : zná.