Some Proto-Slavic nomina agentis with the suffix *-ar’ь (based on appellative and proprial lexis)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of a fragment of the Proto-Slavic lexical word-formation microsystem – derivatives with the suffix *-аr’ь (nomina agentis). According to researchers, appellatives with this suffix are known in all Slavic languages, but most of all they are characteristic of the lexicons of those Slavic peoples that are adjacent to the Germanic or Romance ethnos. The anthroponymic material at our disposal allowed us to reconstruct more than 200 archetypes which testify to the variety of economic activities and crafts of the Slavs in the past and present. The entire material will be published elsewhere. The article offers a fragment of this lexical word-forming microsystem. According to preliminary observations, the continuants of the reconstructed archetypes are characteristic mainly of all (or most) Slavic languages. Some have survived in separate Slavic languages / dialects or in one of the groups of closely related languages. Archaisms and historicisms are often found among them.