Abstract
Bringing into the analysis the geographical names with the morpheme -ov-/-ev- in Slovenian (e.g. Volovica, Rakovica, Bukovica, Brezovica, etc.), the article aims to account for the origin of the morpheme -ov-/-ev- in these type of proper names. The Proto-Slavic suffi x *-ov-/-ev- initially arose within Proto-Slavic u- and ū-stem nouns, and their derivatives. Due to formal and semantic analogy, the suffix in question started to spread from this original position to other masculine and feminine nouns, especially to Proto-Slavic o- and ā-stems, with adjectives in *-ov-ъ playing the decisive role. In terms of semantics, in the analysed names, the morpheme -ov-/-ev- is present in the continuations of those Proto-Slavic u- and ū-stem nouns and those Proto-Slavic o- and ā-stems that belong to semantic fields typical of the u- and ū-stems, i.e. plants and/or parts of plants, geomorphological terminology, animal species etc. The author shows that the studied Slovenian toponyms display the following etymological and derivational formations: 1) adjectives in *-ovъ (e.g. Vrhovo, Bukovo, Brezovo); 2) nomina attributiva, derived from adjectives in *-ov-ъ with the suffixes *-ьcь, *-ikъ, *-ica, *-ъkъ, *-ъka (e.g. Vrhovec, Bukovec, Brezovec), as well as concretised nomina qualitatis in *-ina of the same derivational type (e.g. Bukovina); 3) nomina collectiva, originally derived from the stem in *-ov- with the suffix *-ьje (e.g. Vrhovje, Bukovje); 4) nomina originis with the suffix *-jane: *-ov-jane > *-ovĺane ≥ Sln. -ovlje (e.g. Vrhovlje, Bukovlje); 5) extended adjectives in *-ov-ьnъ, *-ov-ьskъ, *-ov-ьjь (e.g. Cerkovni vrh, Brezovski potok, Volovja reber) and their subsequent derivatives (e.g. Bukovnik, Brezovnik).
Published Version
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