Abstract

The prevailing semantics of Russian and Slavic nouns with the prefix na- is determined by the primary function of the prefix — it designates an object as located on top of the root noun: Slav. *narǫka ‘bracelet’ (lit. ‘thing on top of hand’). However, another type of correlation between the semantics of the prefixed noun and the root noun is possible: the root noun in this case denotes the object itself, which, thanks to the preceding prefix, is characterized as located on top, so that the derived noun corresponds semantically to a reverse arrangement of the root noun and prefix — ‘object (which) is on top’, see Slav. *naledъ ‘ice-crusted ground’ (lit. ‘ice that is on top’). The emergence of this semantic pattern of denominative nouns with the prefix *na- can be explained by the patterning influence of nouns derived from prefixed verbs: cf. Slav. *nasypati ‘pour on/into’ → *nasypь ‘embankment’.

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