Proto-Baltic language

Ancestor of the Baltic languages

Proto-Baltic

PB, PBl, Common Baltic
Reconstruction of| Baltic languages
Region| Central, Eastern and Northern Europe
Era| 3rd m. BC – c. 5th century BC

Reconstructed
ancestors

Proto-Indo-European

* Proto-Balto-Slavic

Part of a series on

Indo-European topics

Languages

* * *

* List of Indo-European languages

* * *

Extant

* Albanoid
* Albanian
* Armenian
* Balto-Slavic
* Baltic
* Slavic
* Celtic
* Germanic
* Hellenic
* Greek
* Indo-Iranian
* Indo-Aryan
* Iranian
* Nuristani
* Italic
* Romance

Extinct

* Anatolian
* Tocharian
* Paleo-Balkan
* Dacian
* Illyrian
* Liburnian
* Messapic
* Mysian
* Paeonian
* Phrygian
* Thracian

* * *

Reconstructed

* Proto-Indo-European language

* Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut

* * *

Hypothetical

* Balkanic
* Daco-Thracian
* Graeco-Albanian
* Graeco-Armenian
* Graeco-Aryan
* Graeco-Phrygian
* Indo-Hittite
* Italo-Celtic
* Thraco-Illyrian

* * *

Grammar

* Vocabulary
* Root
* Verbs
* Nouns
* Pronouns
* Numerals
* Particles

* * *

Other

* Proto-Albanian
* Proto-Anatolian
* Proto-Armenian
* Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse)
* Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic)
* Proto-Greek
* Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic)
* Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Indo-Aryan, Proto-Iranian, Proto-Nuristani)

Philology

* Hittite inscriptions
* Hieroglyphic Luwian
* Linear B
* Rigveda
* Avesta
* Homer
* Behistun
* Greek epigraphy
* Phrygian epigraphy
* Messapic epigraphy
* Latin epigraphy
* Gaulish epigraphy
* Runic epigraphy
* Ogham
* Gothic Bible
* Bible translations into Armenian
* Tocharian script
* Old Irish glosses
* Albanian Kanun

Origins

* Homeland
* Proto-Indo-Europeans
* Society
* Religion

* * *

Mainstream

* Kurgan hypothesis
* Indo-European migrations
* Eurasian nomads

* * *

Alternative and fringe

* Anatolian hypothesis
* Armenian hypothesis
* Beech argument
* Indigenous Aryanism
* Baltic homeland
* Paleolithic continuity theory

Archaeology

Chalcolithic (Copper Age)

Pontic Steppe

* Domestication of the horse
* Kurgan
* Kurgan stelae
* Kurgan culture
* Steppe cultures
* Bug–Dniester
* Sredny Stog
* Dnieper–Donets
* Samara
* Khvalynsk
* Yamnaya
* Mykhailivka culture
* Novotitarovskaya culture

Caucasus

* Maykop

East Asia

* Afanasievo

Eastern Europe

* Usatove
* Cernavodă
* Cucuteni

Northern Europe

* Corded ware
* Baden
* Middle Dnieper

* * *

Bronze Age
Pontic Steppe

* Chariot
* Yamnaya
* Catacomb
* Multi-cordoned ware
* Poltavka
* Srubnaya

Northern/Eastern Steppe

* Abashevo culture
* Andronovo
* Sintashta

Europe

* Globular Amphora
* Corded ware
* Bell Beaker
* Únětice
* Trzciniec
* Nordic Bronze Age
* Terramare
* Tumulus
* Urnfield
* Proto-Villanovan
* Lusatian
* Este

South Asia

* Bishkent
* Vakhsh
* BMAC
* Ochre Coloured Pottery
* Copper Hoard
* Cemetery H
* Gandhara grave

* * *

Iron Age
Steppe

* Chernoles

Europe

* Thraco-Cimmerian
* Hallstatt
* Latial
* Jastorf

Caucasus

* Colchian

Central Asia

* Yaz

India

* Painted Grey Ware
* Northern Black Polished Ware

Peoples and societies

Bronze Age

* Anatolian peoples (Hittites)

* Armenians
* Mycenaean Greeks
* Indo-Iranians

Iron Age Indo-Aryans

* Indo-Aryans

Iranians

* Iranians

Nuristanis

* Nuristanis

East Asia

* Wusun
* Yuezhi

Europe

* Celts
* Gauls
* Celtiberians
* Insular Celts
* Cimmerians
* Hellenic peoples
* Italic peoples
* Germanic peoples
* Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia
* Thracians
* Dacians
* Illyrians
* Paeonians
* Phrygians
* Scythians

Middle Ages
East Asia

* Tocharians

Europe

* Albanians
* Balts
* Slavs
* Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians
* Middle Ages

Indo-Aryan

* Medieval India

Iranian

* Greater Iran

Religion and mythology

Reconstructed

* Proto-Indo-European mythology
* Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
* Historical Vedic religion
* Ancient Iranian religion

* * *

Historical

* Hittite

Indo-Aryan

* Vedic
* Hinduism
* Buddhism
* Jainism
* Sikhism

Iranian

* Persian
* Zoroastrianism
* Kurdish
* Yazidism
* Yarsanism
* Scythian
* Ossetian

Others

* Armenian

European

* Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian)
* Greek
* Roman
* Celtic
* Irish
* Scottish
* Breton
* Welsh
* Cornish
* Germanic
* Anglo-Saxon
* Continental
* Norse
* Baltic
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Slavic

Practices

* Fire rituals
* Horse sacrifice
* Sati
* Winter solstice/Yule

Indo-European studies

Scholars

* Marija Gimbutas
* J. P. Mallory

Institutes

* Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European

Publications

* Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture
* The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
* Journal of Indo-European Studies
* Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
* Indo-European Etymological Dictionary

Category

* v
* t
* e

Proto-Baltic (PB, PBl, Common Baltic) is the unattested, reconstructed ancestral proto-language of all Baltic languages. It is not attested in writing, but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method by gathering the collected data on attested Baltic and other Indo-European languages. It represents the common Baltic speech that approximately was spoken between the 3rd millennium BC and ca. 5th century BC, after which it began dividing into West and East Baltic languages.[1] Proto-Baltic is thought to have been a fusional language and is associated with the Corded Ware and Trzciniec cultures.[2]

Generally, Proto-Baltic had a SOV word order.[3] Proto-Baltic is said to have possessed certain unique traits, such as turning short Proto-Indo-European vowels *o, *a into *a, retaining and further developing the Proto-Indo-European ablaut, retaining *m before dental consonants, the productivity of the word stem ē and free accentuation with two pitch accents. Also, the proto-language is thought to have had its own set of diminutive suffixes, identical endings for verb tenses and moods, past tense by applying thematic vowels *-ā- and *-ē-, as well as its own lexicon, including onomastic elements.[4]

## Proto-Baltic area

[edit]

The prevalence of Baltic hydronyms[5]

Area with many Baltic hydronyms

Area with few or questionable Baltic hydronyms

Baltic hydronyms cover a vast area of 860,000 km2 from Vystula River in the west to Moscow in the east and from the Baltic Sea in the north all the way to Kyiv in the south. The current Lithuanian and Latvian lands combined constitute approximately one-sixth of the former Baltic territory.[6] Some researchers suggest that in the past Baltic lands from Vystula to Daugava were inhabited by Baltic Finnic tribes but they were assimilated by the Baltic newcomers later on.[7][8][9] There is still an ongoing debate regarding the boundary of hydronyms in the southwest: Lithuanian linguist Simas Karaliūnas [lt] believed that practically all of the basins of Oder and Vystula Rivers belonged to the Baltic hydronym habitat[10] while German linguist Hermann Schall suggested that Baltic hydronyms could be found much further west all the way to Elbe, Saxony and Rügen island.[11] During the 2nd and 1st millennium BC, the Baltic people inhabited larger territories than Germanic and Slavic people did at the time.[12] It is estimated that the Proto-Baltic lands had up to 500,000 people.[12]

Inhabitants of the Proto-Baltic area were surrounded by Germanic people in the west, Slavs in the south and Finno-Ugric people in the north and northeast. Russian philologist Vladimir Toporov believes that during 1000–800 BC Proto-Germanic people began expanding into the western Baltic territory starting from the Pasłęka River.[13] Later on, the Baltic area began shrinking even more due to the migration of the Goths. During the migration period Slavic people began expanding into the northern and eastern territories of the Balts. From 11th to 12th century, Russian scriptures mention ongoing battles near Moscow with Eastern Galindians.[14] Since 1225, the conquests of the Teutonic Order in the current Baltic region intensified and later on resulted in the extinction of the Old Prussians in the 18th century.[15]

## Relationship with other language groups

[edit]

Suggested early periods of linguistic convergence during the existence of the Proto-Baltic language.

### Slavic languages

[edit]

Main articles: Proto-Balto-Slavic language and Balto-Slavic languages

After a long-running debate in the 20th century about the exact nature of the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic branches of the Indo-European family, in the 21st century many historical linguists moved firmly in favour of a shared genealogical history between these two branches, both deriving from a common intermediate source, Proto-Balto-Slavic, after the breakup of Proto-Indo-European.[16] Those in opposition continue to be sceptical about the nature of such a relationship[17] and are uncertain whether it is even ascertainable.[18] While Balto-Slavic has been traditionally divided into two main branches, viz. Baltic and Slavic,[19] some linguists like Frederik Kortlandt or Rick Derksen proposed that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups — East Baltic, West Baltic and Proto-Slavic — without a Proto-Baltic stage,[20][21][22][23] which is a view opposed by Miguel Villanueva Svensson[24] and Eugen Hill.[25] Historical linguist Brian D. Joseph argues that in the context of other Indo-European phylogenetic clades, the qualitative evidence for Balto-Slavic is not on par with Indo-Iranian, insofar as Balto-Slavic lacks evidence for shared culture (as is also the case for Italo-Celtic).[26] Other scholars point out that the phonology and morphology, which is shared by all known Baltic languages, is much more archaic than that of Proto-Slavic, retaining many features attributed to other attested Indo-European languages roughly 3000 years ago.[27]

Various schematic sketches of possible Balto-Slavic language relationships.

It is also known that some Baltic and Slavic languages have more in common that others: Old Prussian and Latvian share more commonalities with Slavic languages than Lithuanian does.[28] Some similarities between Baltic and Slavic can be found on all levels of linguistic analysis, which led German philologist August Schleicher to believe that there was indeed a common point of development. French linguist Antoine Meillet, however, rejected this idea and claimed that similarities between Baltic and Slavic languages were a result of close contact. Meanwhile, Latvian linguist Jānis Endzelīns suggested that following the split of PIE, Baltic and Slavic languages evolved independently, but later experienced a common period of greater contact. Jan Michał Rozwadowski proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact.[29] Russian linguists Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov believed that Proto-Slavic language formed from the peripheral-type Baltic dialects.[30][31] Thus, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic languages.

### Germanic languages

[edit]

There is some vocabulary (about 60 words) that Baltic and Germanic languages share, excluding loanwords. Common vocabulary mostly includes words relating to work, equipment, agriculture etc., such as Proto-Baltic *darbas, meaning 'work' and Proto-Germanic *derbaz, meaning 'bold, determined, strong' < *derbaną 'to work',[32] Proto-Baltic *derṷā and Proto-Germanic *terwą, meaning 'tar, resin', Proto-Baltic *gāmurii̯as and Proto-Germanic *gōmô, meaning 'palate'.[33] Baltic and Germanic languages also share numeral formation for 11 to 19, both partially possess the same formation of verbs in past tense (ablaut), absence of the aorist. According to German linguist Wolfgang P. Schmid [de], at first Proto-Baltic was a centum language along with Proto-Germanic, but it eventually became satem later on.[34] Some scholars believe that Baltic and Germanic contacts are older than those with Slavic languages while others claim the opposite.[35][36] According to Lithuanian linguist Saulius Ambrazas [lt], Germanic people borrowed certain suffixes from their Baltic neighbours, such as *-ing-, *-isko-, *-ō-men- (e.g. Old High German: arming 'poor person', Old Icelandic: bernska 'childhood', Gothic: aldōmin (DAT) 'senility').[36] Both Baltic and Germanic emotional verbs possess similar semantic development, which is evinced by roots like *dhers- and *dreǵh-. This semantic group is also noted for having exclusive isoglosses (e.g. PIE: *dreǵh-, *dherbh-, *u̯rengh-, *peḱ-), though they differ in meaning.[37]

Simas Karaliūnas [lt] suggested that in the 3rd millennium BC Germanic and Baltic languages shared a common phase of linguistic convergence and that Baltic dialects were initially closer to the Germanic dialects than Slavic ones.[38] He noted that although Germanic languages possess more lexical commonalities with Slavic languages, Baltic and Germanic groups share a greater number of grammatical innovations. This is evinced by the possession of *-mo- (e.g. Lithuanian: pirmas, Gothic: fruma, Old English: forma), second consanguineous component (cf. Lithuanian: vie-nuo-lika, dvy-lika, Gothic: ain-lif, twa-lif, Old High German: ein-lif, zwei-lif), identical dual number pronouns in first and second person (cf. Lithuanian: vedu, Gothic: wit < *ṷo-dṷō- ‘I lead’; Lithuanian: judu, Gothic: jut < *i̭u-dṷō- ‘I move’), common grammatical constructions to describe natural phenomenons (cf. Lithuanian: sniegas drimba, Latvian: sniegs drēbj, Old Icelandic: drift snaer ‘snow is falling down’)[39] and resemblance of comparative degree prefixe -esnis to its corresponding Germanic counterpart (cf. Gothic: -izan).[40]

### Finnic languages

[edit]

The linguistic influences of Baltic Finnic languages, which are associated with the eastern Baltic area, can be observed in certain grammatical innovations, such as the merger of some cases with postpositions, thus forming new additional cases (postpositional locatives): inessive *šakāi + en > *šakāi̯en 'in the branch', illative *šakān + nā > *šakānā 'into the branch', adessive *šakāi + prei > *šakāip(r)ei '(to be) by the branch' and allative *šakās + prei > *šakāsp(r)ei '(get closer) to the branch'. The impact of the Finnic languages over Baltic languages also explains the widespread use of a non-agreed modifier expressed by the genitive of a noun (Latvian: latviešu valoda, literally 'language of the Latvians') in contrast to other Indo-European languages that usually apply an agreed modifier expressed by an adjective (German: die lettische Sprache 'Latvian language') as well as the usage of indirect mood when one is retelling an event without knowing whether it actually happened.[41]

In turn, Baltic Finnic languages have many borrowings from the Baltic languages. Baltic languages accelerated diphthongization in these languages, the impact of the Baltic languages explains compound forms of the past tense (Estonian: olen lugenud 'I have read', Estonian: olin lugenud 'I had read' cf. Lithuanian: esu skaitęs, buvau skaitęs), development of the agreed modifier not found in other Uralic languages (Estonian: suur linn 'big city' (NOM), Estonian: suure linna 'of the big city' (GEN), Estonian: suurele linnale 'towards the big city; for the big city' (ALL) cf. Lithuanian: didelis miestas, didelio miesto, dideliam miestui), fortifying suffix -pa / -pä (Finnish: jopa 'even, as much as', Finnish: vieläpä '(but) also, (but) even', Finnish: jospa 'maybe, if' cf. Lithuanian: bei 'and, as well as', Prussian: bhe 'and') etc.[42][43]

## Phonetics and phonology

[edit]

### Vowels and diphthongs

[edit]

The vowels of Proto-Baltic changed little in comparison to PIE: short vowels *a and *o coincided into a single *a while the reduced Indo-European vowel schwa primum (*ə) also turned into *a as it did in other Indo-European languages of Europe and it ceased to exist in the middle of words.[44] According to the proponents of the Laryngeal theory, the schwa primum appeared by turning laryngeals into vowels, which makes its reconstruction for PIE unnecessary and obsolete.[45] There were four short and five long vowels as well as four short and six long diphthongs as presented below:[44]

Vowels  Type  | Front | Back

|
|

long  |  short  |  long  |  short
Close | ī | i | ū | u
Mid | ē  | e | ō  |
Open |  | ā | a
Diphthongs  Type  | Front | Back

|
|

long  |  short  |  long  |  short
Close |  |
Mid | ēi, ēu | ei, eu | ōi, ōu |
Open |  | āi, āu | ai, au

Vowels *a, *e, *i, *u together with sonorants *r, *l, *m, *n of Proto-Baltic were used to form mixed diphthongs as they are being used in the modern Baltic languages today. It is also well known that there were mixed diphthongs with long vowels at the endings. Long diphthongs can be reconstructed when glottaling (e.g. PIE: *pl̥h₁nós 'full' > Proto-Baltic: *pī́ˀlnas 'full'), compared to PIE, the position of stress in the example is conditioned by Hirt's law.[46][47] Long mixed diphthongs, which position in the morpheme is hardly determined or their existence is questionable are presented in Italic:

Mixed diphthongs  | Sonorants

|

-r  |  -l  |  -m  |  -n
Vowels  | a- ā- | ar ār | al āl | am ām | an ān
e- ē- | er ēr | el ēl | em ēm | en ēn
i- ī- | ir īr | il īl | im īm | in īn
u- ū- | ur ūr | ul ūl | um ūm | un ūn
ō- | ōr | ōl | ōm | ōn

### Consonants

[edit]

The consonants of Proto-Baltic experienced greater changes than primary vowels when in their primordial condition. PIE aspirated and labialized velar consonants (*bʰ, *dʰ, *gʰ, *gu̯, *gu̯ʰ, *ku̯) in Proto-Baltic coincided with plain consonants (*b, *d, *g, *k) as they did in some other Indo-European languages. However, at the early stages of development, the differences between plain and aspirated voiced plosives might have been retained. This is because before the plain voiced plosives the vowels were lengthened, which is not the case with the aspirated voiced ones (Winter's law). The Proto-Baltic was a satem language, PIE *ḱ turned into *š, PIE *ǵ and PIE *ǵʰ turned into *ž.[48][49]

Type  |  Bilabial  | Dental |  Alveolar  |  Palatal  |  Velar

|
|
|
|
|

Plosive | voiceless | p | t |  |  | k
voiced | b | d |  |  | ɡ
Nasal | m | n |  |  |
Fricative | voiceless |  | s | ʃ |  |
voiced |  | z[50] | ʒ |  |
Vibrant |  |  | r |  |
Lateral |  | l |  |  |
Approximant | u̯[51] |  |  | i̯[52] |

The sonorants of PIE *ṛ, *ḷ, *ṃ, *ṇ, which were used as vowels and could form a syllable, turned into mixed diphthongs *ir, *il, *im, *in (in rarer cases—*ur, *ul, *um, *un) in Proto-Baltic. These diphthongs alternated (had an ablaut) with *er (*ēr), *el (*ēl), *em (*ēm), *en (*ēn) and *ar (*ōr), *al (*ōl), *am (*ōm), *an (*ōn).

One of the unique properties of Baltic languages is the disappearance of the semivowel *i̯ between a consonant and a front vowel (e.g. *žemi̯ē > *žemē 'earth').

Another noteworthy trait of Proto-Baltic is the retained intact *m existing before front dental consonants *t, *d, *s (e.g. *šimtan 'hundred', *kimdai 'gloves', *tamsā 'darkness'), which in other Indo-European languages turned into n. However, unlike in Italic or Indo-Iranian languages, in Proto-Baltic *m and *ṃ would become *n at the very end of a word.[45]

### Stress and pitch accent

[edit]

In the Proto-Baltic language, the stress could be placed on any syllable, the stress was free, unfixed. According to the movement of stress, three possible variants of accent system are reconstructed: 1) a system with baritone accentuation (stress on the stem) and oxytonic accentuation (stress on the endings), 2) a system with baritone accentuation and mobile accentuation (stress moves from endings to the stem), 3) a system with the baritone, mobile and oxytonic accentuations.[53]

There were two pitch accents, an acute (´) and a circumflex (˜), which were pronounced with pure and mixed diphthongs and long vowels. Pitch accents could be pronounced both in the stems and in the endings. The acute pitch had a rising intonation, while the circumflex pitch had a falling intonation. Some scientists (Zigmas Zinkevičius, Vytautas Kardelis [lt], Vytautas Rinkevičius (1981) [lt] etc.) believe that pitch accents were pronounced both in stressed and unstressed syllables, for example *'rãnkā́ 'hand' (stress placed on the first syllable, although both syllables had different pitch accents).[53][54]

## Morphology

[edit]

### Nouns

[edit]

The noun of Proto-Baltic possessed very archaic traits—the endings were not being shortened and were close to the endings of PIE. It had three grammatical categories: gender (masculine, feminine and neuter), number (singular, dual and plural) and seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative with three different dual case forms. In comparison to the PIE reconstruction, Proto-Baltic only failed to retain the ablative and allative cases.[55] Neuter gender was only retained by Old Prussian while in Latvian and Lithuanian it ceased to exist. That said, other neuter forms of inflected words such as adjectives, participles, pronouns and numerals remained in Lithuanian.[56]

*ā-stem and *ē-stem nouns were feminine, *o-stem nouns basically were masculine and neuter, *s-stem nouns were neuter, *r-stem nouns―masculine and feminine while other noun stems could refer to all three genders. Unlike feminine and masculine nouns, neuter ones always had the same form for the nominative, accusative, and vocative cases. This form distinguished neuter nouns from masculine and feminine ones belonging to the same stem. Masculine and feminine nouns of the same stem had identical endings, and the grammatical gender was indicated by gender-changing words (pronouns, adjectives, participles, etc.) used with nouns:[57] *labas anglis 'a good coal' (masculine), *labā au̯is 'a good sheep' (feminine), *laba(n) mari 'a good sea' (neuter). Because of the disappearance of the semivowel *i̯ between a consonant and a front vowel, neuter *i-stem words had changes *mari̯ī > *marī 'two seas', *aru̯i̯ī > *aru̯ī 'two suitable ones' in dual.

#### *o-stem nouns

[edit]

* *deiṷas 'God' < PBS *deiwás < PIE *deywós (> Pruss. dēiwas, pre-Lith. *dēvas and Lith. dievas, Ltv. dievs)
* *buta(n) 'house' < PBS *bū́ˀtei? ("to be") (> Lith. butà, rare synonym of bùtas and namas; Pruss. buttan [= butan])

Case | Singular | Dual | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine | Neuter | Masculine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Neuter
Nominative | *deiṷas | *buta(n) | *deiṷō | *butai | *deiṷai | *butā
Genitive | *deiṷas(a) / *deiṷā | *butas(a) / *butā | *deiṷōus | *butōus | *deiṷōn | *butōn
Dative | *deiṷōi | *butōi | *deiṷamā | *butamā | *deiṷamas | *butamas
Accusative | *deiṷan | *buta(n) | *deiṷō | *butai | *deiṷōns | *butā
Instrumental | *deiṷō | *butō | *deiṷamā | *butamā | *deiṷais | *butais
Locative | *deiṷei | *butei | *deiṷōus | *butōus | *deiṷeisu | *buteisu
Vocative | *deiṷe! | *buta(n)! | *deiṷō! | *butai! | *deiṷai! | *butā!

#### *ā-stem nouns

[edit]

*rankā 'hand' < PBS *ránkāˀ < PIE *wrónkeh₂ (> Lith. rankà, Ltv. ròka, Pruss. ranko [written as "rancko"]; cognate with the Lith. verb riñkti)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Feminine
Nominative  | *rankā | *rankāi | *rankās
Genitive  | *rankās | *rankāus | *rankōn
Dative  | *rankāi | *rankāmā | *rankāmas
Accusative  | *rankān | *rankāi | *rankāns
Instrumental  | *rankān | *rankāmā | *rankāmīs
Locative  | *rankāi | *rankāus | *rankāsu
Vocative  | *ranka! | *rankāi! | *rankās!

#### *ē-stem nouns

[edit]

*žemē 'earth' < PBS *źémē < pre-BS *ǵʰem-m̥ (> Lith. žẽmė, Ltv. zeme, Pruss. zemē [written as "semme"])

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Feminine
Nominative  | *žemē | *žemēi | *žemēs
Genitive  | *žemēs | *žemēus | *žemi̯ōn
Dative  | *žemēi | *žemēmā | *žemēmas
Accusative  | *žemēn | *žemēi | *žemēns
Instrumental  | *žemēn | *žemēmā | *žemēmīs
Locative  | *žemēi | *žemēus | *žemēsu
Vocative  | *žeme! | *žemēi! | *žemēs!

#### *i-stem nouns

[edit]

* *anglis 'coal, charcoal' < PBS *anˀglís < PIE *h₁óngʷl̥ (> Lith. anglìs, Pruss. anglis, dialectal Ltv. oglis)

* *au̯is 'sheep' < PBS *áwis < PIE *h₂ówis (> Lith. avis, Ltv. avs)
* *mari 'sea' < PBS *mári < PIE *móri (> Old Lith. mãrės)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter
Nominative  | *anglis | *au̯is | *mari | *anglī | *au̯ī | *marī | *angleis / *anglii̯es | *au̯eis / *au̯ii̯es | *marī
Genitive  | *angleis | *au̯eis | *mareis | *anglii̯aus | *au̯ii̯aus | *marii̯aus | *angli̯ōn | *au̯i̯ōn | *mari̯ōn
Dative  | *anglei | *au̯ei | *marei | *anglimā | *au̯imā | *marimā | *anglimas | *au̯imas | *marimas
Accusative  | *anglin | *au̯in | *mari | *anglī | *au̯ī | *marī | *anglins | *au̯ins | *marī
Instrumental  | *anglimi | *au̯imi | *marimi | *anglimā | *au̯imā | *marimā | *anglimīs | *au̯imīs | *marimīs
Locative  | *anglēi | *au̯ēi | *marēi | *anglii̯aus | *au̯ii̯aus | *marii̯aus | *anglisu | *au̯isu | *marisu
Vocative  | *anglei! | *au̯ei! | *mari! | *anglī! | *au̯ī! | *marī! | *angleis! / *anglii̯es! | *au̯eis! / *au̯ii̯es! | *marī!

#### *u-stem nouns

[edit]

* *sūnus 'son' < PBS *sū́ˀnus < PIE *suHnús (> Old. Lith. súnus, Ltv. soūns)
* *girnus 'millstone' < PBS *gírˀnūˀ < PIE *gʷr̥h₂núHs (> Lith. girna, Ltv. dzir̃nus and dzir̃navas, Pruss. girnoywis [wrong transcription of *girnuvis])
* *medu 'honey' < PBS *médu < PIE *médʰu (> Lith. medù, Ltv. medus, Pruss. meddo)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter
Nominative  | *sūnus | *girnus | *medu | *sūnū | *girnū | *medu̯ī | *sūnaus / *sūnaṷes | *girnaus / *girnaṷes | *medū
Genitive  | *sūnaus | *girnaus | *medaus | *sūnau̯aus | *girnau̯aus | *medau̯aus | *sūnṷōn | *girnṷōn | *medṷōn
Dative  | *sūnōi / *sūnau̯ei | *girnōi / *girnau̯ei | *medōi / medau̯ei | *sūnumā | *girnumā | *medumā | *sūnumas | *girnumas | *medumas
Accusative  | *sūnun | *girnun | *medu | *sūnū | *girnū | *medu̯ī | *sūnuns | *girnuns | *medū
Instrumental  | *sūnumi | *girnumi | *medumi | *sūnumā | *girnumā | *medumā | *sūnumīs | *girnumīs | *medumīs
Locative  | *sūnōu | *girnōu | *medōu | *sūnau̯aus | *girnau̯aus | *medau̯aus | *sūnusu | *girnusu | *medusu
Vocative  | *sūnau! | *girnau! | *medu! | *sūnū! | *girnū! | *medu̯ī! | *sūnaus! / *sūnaṷes! | *girnaus! / *girnaṷes! | *medū!

#### *r-stem nouns

[edit]

* *brātē 'brother' < PBS *brā́ˀtē < PIE *bʰréh₂tēr (> dialectal Lith. broti, Pruss. brāti, Ltv. brālis from a diminutive form)
* *duktē 'daughter' < PBS *duktḗ < pre-BS *dʰuktḗr < PIE *dʰugh₂tḗr (> Old Lith. duktė́, Pruss. dukti [written as "duckti"])

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Feminine
Nominative  | *brātē | *duktē | *brātere | *duktere | *brāteres | *dukteres
Genitive  | *brāteres | *dukteres | *brāteraus | *dukteraus | *brāterōn | *dukterōn
Dative  | *brāterei | *dukterei | *brātermā | *duktermā | *brātermas | *duktermas
Accusative  | *brāterin | *dukterin | *brātere | *duktere | *brāterins | *dukterins
Instrumental  | *brātermi | *duktermi | *brātermā | *duktermā | *brātermīs | *duktermīs
Locative  | *brāteri | *dukteri | *brāteraus | *dukteraus | *brātersu | *duktersu
Vocative  | *brāter! | *dukter! | *brātere! | *duktere! | *brāteres! | *dukteres!

#### *n-stem nouns

[edit]

* *akmō 'stone' < PBS *ákmō < PIE *h₂éḱmō (> Old. Lith. ãkmuo, Ltv. akmens)
* *sēmen 'seed' < PBS *sḗˀmen < PIE *séh₁mn̥ (> Lith. sėmuõ, Pruss. semen)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Neuter
Nominative  | *akmō | *sēmen | *akmene | *sēmenī | *akmenes | *sēmenā
Genitive  | *akmenes | *sēmenes | *akmenaus | *sēmenaus | *akmenōn | *sēmenōn
Dative  | *akmenei | *sēmenei | *akmenmā | *sēmenmā  | *akmenmas | *sēmenmas
Accusative  | *akmenin | *sēmen | *akmene | *sēmenī | *akmenins | *sēmenā
Instrumental  | *akmenmi | *sēmenmi | *akmenmā | *sēmenmā  | *akmenmīs | *sēmenmīs
Locative  | *akmeni | *sēmeni | *akmenaus | *sēmenaus | *akmensu | *sēmensu
Vocative  | *akmen! | *sēmen! | *akmene! | *sēmenī! | *akmenes! | *sēmenā!

#### *l-stem nouns

[edit]

*ābō 'apple-tree' < PBS *ā́ˀbōl [apple] < PIE *h₂ébōl (> Lith. obelis, Ltv. ābele, Pruss. wobalne)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Feminine
Nominative  | *ābō | *ābele | *ābeles
Genitive  | *ābeles | *ābelaus | *ābelōn
Dative  | *ābelei | *ābelmā | *ābelmas
Accusative  | *ābelin | *ābele | *ābelins
Instrumental  | *ābelmi | *ābelmā | *ābelmīs
Locative  | *ābeli | *ābelaus | *ābelsu
Vocative  | *ābel! | *ābele! | *ābeles!

#### *s-stem nouns

[edit]

*nebas 'cloud' < PBS *néba < PIE *nébʰos (> Old Lith. dẽbesis [f.], Ltv. debess [f.])

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Neuter
Nominative  | *nebas | *nebesī | *nebesā
Genitive  | *nebeses | *nebesaus | *nebesōn
Dative  | *nebesei | *nebesmā | *nebesmas
Accusative  | *nebas | *nebesī | *nebesā
Instrumental  | *nebesmi | *nebesmā | *nebesmīs
Locative  | *nebesi | *nebesaus | *nebe(s)su
Vocative  | *nebas! | *nebesī! | *nebesā!

#### Root nouns

[edit]

* *ṷaišpats 'lord' (> Lith. viẽšpats or viēšpats; cognate with ancient Greek οῖκος [oikos] "settlement" < ϝοῖκος [woikos] < PE *wóikos < PIE *wóyḱos, while the ending could come from PIE *pótis, "ruler")
* *šēr 'heart' < PBS *śḗr < PIE *ḱḗr (> Old Lith. širdès, Ltv. sir̂ds)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Masculine  | Neuter
Nominative  | *ṷaišpats | *šēr | *ṷaišpate | *šerdī | *ṷaišpates | *šerdā
Genitive  | *ṷaišpates | *širdes | *ṷaišpataus | *širdaus | *ṷaišpatōn | *širdōn
Dative  | *ṷaišpatei | *širdei | *ṷaišpatmā | *širdmā | *ṷaišpatmas | *širdmas
Accusative  | *ṷaišpatin | *šēr | *ṷaišpate | *šerdī | *ṷaišpatins | *šerdā
Instrumental  | *ṷaišpatmi | *širdmi | *ṷaišpatmā | *širdmā  | *ṷaišpatmīs | *širdmīs
Locative  | *ṷaišpati | *širdi | *ṷaišpataus | *širdaus | *ṷaišpatsu | *širdsu
Vocative  | *ṷaišpat! | *šēr! | *ṷaišpate! | *šerdī! | *ṷaišpates! | *šerdā!

### Adjectives

[edit]

Unlike the noun, the adjective used to be alternated using a gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), which was then adapted to the corresponding gender of the noun. Adjectives had three degrees: positive (no suffix: masculine *labas, neuter *laban, feminine *labā 'good'), comparative (suffix *-es-: masculine *labesis, neuter *labesi, feminine *labesē 'better') and superlative (suffix *-im-: masculine *labimas, neuter *labiman, feminine *labimā 'the best'). They had singular, dual and plural numbers as they were applied to adjectives for combining them with nouns. The vocative case usually concurred with the nominative one.[58]

As in the case of noun paradigms, there were *i̯o\- (fem. *i̯ā-) and *ii̯o\- (fem. *ē-) stem variants next to the *o-stem adjectives. Feminine gender forms were constructed with the *ā-stem while the feminine forms with the *i̯ā-stem (sing. nom. *-ī) were constructed with the *u-stem adjectives. The feminine gender of the masculine and neuter genders for the *i-stem probably resulted with *i̯ā\- or *ē-stems. However, the reconstruction of the later is difficult as the *i-stem adjectives in the current Baltic languages were poorly preserved.[59]

#### *o-stem, *ā-stem adjectives

[edit]

*labas 'good' < PBS *labas < perhaps PIE *labʰos (> Lith. lãbas, Latv. labs, Prus. labs)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Nominative
Vocative  | *labas | *laban / *laba | *labā | *labō | *labai | *labāi | *labai | *labā | *labās
Genitive  | *labas(a) / *labā | *labās | *labōus | *labāus | *labōn
Dative  | *labōi | *labāi | *labamā | *labāmā | *labamas | *labāmas
Accusative  | *laban | *laban / *laba | *labān | *labō | *labai | *labāi | *labōns | *labā | *labāns
Instrumental  | *labō | *labān | *labamā | *labāmā | *labais | *labāmīs
Locative  | *labei | *labāi | *labōus | *labāus | *labeisu | *labāsu

#### *u-stem, *i̯ā-stem adjectives

[edit]

*platus 'wide' < PBS *platús < PIE *pléth₂us (> Lith. platus, Latv. plats, Prus. plat-)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Nominative
Vocative  | *platus | *platu | *platī | *platū | *platu̯ī | *plati̯āi | *plataus / *platau̯es | *platū | *plati̯ās
Genitive  | *plataus | *plati̯ās | *platau̯aus | *plati̯āus | *platu̯ōn | *plati̯ōn
Dative  | *platōi / *platau̯ei | *plati̯āi | *platumā | *plati̯āmā | *platumas | *plati̯āmas
Accusative  | *platun | *platu | *plati̯ān | *platū | *platu̯ī | *plati̯āi | *platuns | *platū | *plati̯āns
Instrumental  | *platumi | *plati̯ān | *platumā | *plati̯āmā | *platumīs | *plati̯āmīs
Locative  | *platōu | *plati̯āi | *platau̯aus | *plati̯āus | *platusu | *plati̯āsu

#### *i-stem, *ē-stem adjectives

[edit]

*aru̯is 'suitable'[60] < PBS *arwis (> Lith. arvis or arvas, then displaced by tinkamas, linked to the verb tikti; Prus. arwis "true, correct", and PS *orvьnъ "straight, even" > Rus. ровный)

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Nominative
Vocative  | *aru̯is | *aru̯i | *aru̯ē | *aru̯ī | *aru̯ēi | *aru̯eis / *aru̯ii̯es | *aru̯ī | *aru̯ēs
Genitive  | *aru̯eis | *aru̯ēs | *aru̯ii̯aus | *aru̯ēus | *aru̯i̯ōn
Dative  | *aru̯ei | *aru̯ēi | *aru̯imā | *aru̯ēmā | *aru̯imas | *aru̯ēmas
Accusative  | *aru̯in | *aru̯i | *aru̯ēn | *aru̯ī | *aru̯ēi | *aru̯ins | *aru̯ī | *aru̯ēns
Instrumental  | *aru̯imi | *aru̯ēn | *aru̯imā | *aru̯ēmā | *aru̯imīs | *aru̯ēmīs
Locative  | *aru̯ēi | *aru̯ēi | *aru̯ii̯aus | *aru̯ēus | *aru̯isu | *aru̯ēsu

### Verbs

[edit]

The reconstruction of the verb of Proto-Baltic is mostly based on the collected data on the East Baltic languages, as the verb system in Old Prussian is poorly attested. The reconstructed verb system is attributed to the later stages of linguistic development. Unlike other parts of speech, the verb of Proto-Baltic experienced a lot of changes—the grammatical mood, tense and voice systems that came from PIE changed. For instance, from the former Proto-Indo-European tenses—the present, the aorist, the perfect—only the present was preserved by Proto-Baltic in addition to the sigmatic future, which by some researchers is considered to be an inheritance from late PIE.[61]

In PIE there were four moods: indicative, subjunctive, optative and imperative. In Proto-Baltic, indicative remained but subjunctive was changed by the newly formed conditional mood. Meanwhile, imperative gained forms from optative. PIE also had two verb voices – active and middle. The latter was changed with reflexive verbs in Proto-Baltic. New types of verb form (the analytical perfect and the pluperfect) and the analytical passive voice were created.[62] The most archaic trait of Proto-Baltic is the retained athematic conjugation.[63][64] In the first and second person forms, Proto-Baltic had preserved the three numbers from PIE (singular, dual and plural), while in third person, number was not distinguished.[65]

The verb of the Proto-Baltic had three basic stems, i.e. the stems of the present tense, past tense and the infinitive. All forms of the verb were based on those stems.[66] For example, the stems of the verb 'to carry' were *neša-, *nešē-, *neš-; the stems of the verb 'to sit' were *sēdi-, *sēdējā-, *sēdē-. Compared to Lith. nẽša 'he carries', nẽšė 'he carried', nèšti 'to carry'; sė́di 'he sits', sėdė́jo 'he sat', sėdė́ti 'to sit'.[67]

#### Conjugation

[edit]

CH. Stang identifies the following conjugations of verbs in the present tense: athematic, thematic (*o-stem verbs) and semi-thematic (*i-stem and *ā-stem verbs).[68] The future tense was formed using the *-s- / -*si- suffix attached to the infinitive stem, and because of the *-si- suffix, all future tense verbs were conjugated with the *i-stem.[69] The past tense had *ā\- and *ē-stems.[70] With a few exceptions (1st sg. conditional *rinkti̯ā 'I would gather'; 3rd imperative, the same in all numbers; 2nd sg. imperative), all verb endings were borrowed from the present tense.[71]

Present | Athematic verbs  | *o-stem verbs  | *i-stem verbs  | *ā-stem verbs

|
|
|
|

*būtei 'be'

(Lith. būti, Prus. boūt, Latv. būt)

| *rinktei 'gather, collect'

(Lith. rinkti, rankioti, Prus. sen-rīnka '(he) collects', cf. Latv. roka 'a hand')

| *turētei 'have'

(Lith. turėti, Prus. turrītwei, Latv. turēt 'hold' )

| *laikītei 'hold'

(Lith. laikyti, Prus. laikūt,[72] Latv. dial. laicīt 'save'[72][73] )

Singular | 1st sg. | *esmi | *renkō | *turi̯ō | *laikāu
2nd sg. | *esēi | *renkēi | *turēi | *laikāi
3rd sg. | *esti | *renka | *turi | *laikā
Dual | 1st du. | *esu̯ā | *renkau̯ā | *turiu̯ā | *laikāu̯ā
2nd du. | *estā | *renkatā | *turitā | *laikātā
3rd du. | *esti | *renka | *turi | *laikā
Plural | 1st pl. | *esmē | *renkamē | *turimē | *laikāmē
2nd pl. | *estē | *renkatē | *turitē | *laikātē
3rd pl. | *esti | *renka | *turi | *laikā
Future | *i-stem verbs (all the verbs)

|

*būtei 'be'  | *rinktei 'gather, collect'  | *turētei 'have'  | *laikītei 'hold'
Singular  | 1st sg.  | *būsi̯ō | *rinksi̯ō | *turēsi̯ō | *laikīsi̯ō
2nd sg.  | *būsēi | *rinksēi | *turēsēi | *laikīsēi
3rd sg.  | *būs | *rinks | *turēs | *laikīs
Dual  | 1st du.  | *būsiu̯ā | *rinksiu̯ā | *turēsiu̯ā | *laikīsiu̯ā
2nd du.  | *būsitā | *rinksitā | *turēsitā | *laikīsitā
3rd du.  | *būs | *rinks | *turēs | *laikīs
Plural  | 1st pl.  | *būsimē | *rinksimē | *turēsimē | *laikīsimē
2nd pl.  | *būsitē | *rinksitē | *turēsitē | *laikīsitē
3rd pl.  | *būs | *rinks | *turēs | *laikīs
Past | *ā-stem verbs  | *ē-stem verbs

|
|

*būtei 'be'  | *rinktei 'gather, collect'  | *turētei 'have'  | *laikītei 'hold'
Singular  | 1st sg.  | *bii̯āu | *rinkāu | *turēi̯āu | *laikēu
2nd sg.  | *bii̯āi | *rinkāi | *turēi̯āi | *laikēi
3rd sg.  | *bii̯ā | *rinkā | *turēi̯ā | *laikē
Dual  | 1st du.  | *bii̯āu̯ā | *rinkāu̯ā | *turēi̯āu̯ā | *laikēu̯ā
2nd du.  | *bii̯ātā | *rinkātā | *turēi̯ātā | *laikētā
3rd du.  | *bii̯ā | *rinkā | *turēi̯ā | *laikē
Plural  | 1st pl.  | *bii̯āmē | *rinkāmē | *turēi̯āmē | *laikēmē
2nd pl.  | *bii̯ātē | *rinkātē | *turēi̯ātē | *laikētē
3rd pl.  | *bii̯ā | *rinkā | *turēi̯ā | *laikē
Conditional | *i-stem verbs (all the verbs)

|

*būtei 'be'  | *rinktei 'gather, collect'  | *turētei 'have'  | *laikītei 'hold'
Singular  | 1st sg.  | *būti̯ā / *būtunbi̯ō | *rinkti̯ā / *rinktunbi̯ō | *turēti̯ā / *turētunbi̯ō | *laikīti̯ā / *laikītunbi̯ō
2nd sg.  | *būtunbēi | *rinktunbēi | *turētunbēi | *laikītunbēi
3rd sg.  | *būtun(bi) | *rinktun(bi) | *turētun(bi) | *laikītun(bi)
Dual  | 1st du  | *būtunbiu̯ā | *rinktunbiu̯ā | *turētunbiu̯ā | *laikītunbiu̯ā
2nd du.  | *būtunbitā | *rinktunbitā | *turētunbitā | *laikītunbitā
3rd du.  | *būtun(bi) | *rinktun(bi) | *turētun(bi) | *laikītun(bi)
Plural  | 1st pl.  | *būtunbimē | *rinktunbimē | *turētunbimē | *laikītunbimē
2nd pl.  | *būtunbitē | *rinktunbitē | *turētunbitē | *laikītunbitē
3rd pl.  | *būtun(bi) | *rinktun(bi) | *turētun(bi) | *laikītun(bi)
Imperative | Athematic verbs  | *o-stem verbs  | *i-stem verbs  | *ā-stem verbs

|
|
|
|

*būtei 'be'  | *rinktei 'gather, collect'  | *turētei 'have'  | *laikītei 'hold'
Singular  | 2nd sg.  | *esis | *renkais | *turīs | *laikāis
3rd sg.  | *esi | *renkai | *turī | *laikāi
Dual  | 1st du.  | *esiu̯ā | *renkaiu̯ā | *turīu̯ā | *laikāiu̯ā
2nd du.  | *esitā | *renkaitā | *turītā | *laikāitā
3rd du.  | *esi | *renkai | *turī | *laikāi
Plural  | 1st pl.  | *esimē | *renkaimē | *turīmē | *laikāimē
2nd pl.  | *esitē | *renkaitē | *turītē | *laikāitē
3rd pl.  | *esi | *renkai | *turī | *laikāi

#### Infinitive

[edit]

In Proto-Baltic the infinitive was created with suffixes *-tei, *-tēi, *-ti: *eitei, *-tēi, *-ti 'go', *darītei, *-tēi, *-ti 'do'. The infinitive comes from the singular nominal of the word stem ti in its dative (*mirtei 'for death') and locative (*mirtēi 'in death'; consonant stem —*darānti 'in doing' (active participle, masculine–neuter) form. In Lithuanian, the relationship between the infinitive and dative can sometimes be observed to this day (e.g. kėdė yra sėdėti / sėdėjimui 'the chair is for sitting', ne metas liūdėti / liūdėjimui 'no time for sadness').[74]

#### Supine

[edit]

In Proto-Baltic the supine was created with suffixes *-tun < PIE *-tum: *eitun, *darītun. This verb form is unconjugated and was used together with the verbs of movement to express the adverbials of a purpose or an intention. The supine comes from the singular nominal of the word stem tu in its accusative form (*leitun 'rain'). The connection can be observed in the existing dialects of the current Baltic languages and is considered to be inherited from PIE as the supine can be found in other Indo-European languages as well.

#### Aspect

[edit]

Aspect (e.g. imperfective aspect Lithuanian: rinkau 'I was gathering' vs. perfective aspect Lithuanian: surinkau 'I had gathered') might have been unusual to Proto-Baltic, as aorist tense, which was used to express a perfective aspect of a process in contrast to the present tense used to express the imperfective aspect, fell out of use.[75]

#### Participle

[edit]

Proto-Baltic had active and passive voice participles. Traditionally, it is believed that active voice participles already existed in PIE. Participles were declined the same way as the nominals. The vocative case probably coincided with the nominative one. The participle had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), numbers (singular, dual, plural) and tenses (present, future, past). Active participles were used to express a specific trait of an object that arises as a result of their own doing while passive participles were meant to express a specific trait of an object that arises as a result of someone else taking action.

Present participles of the verbs *rinktei 'gather, collect', *turētei 'have', *laikītei 'hold':

Present active participles  | *o-stem  | *i-stem  | *ā-stem

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *renkants | *renkant | *renkantī | *turints | *turint | *turintī | *laikānts | *laikānt | *laikāntī
Genitive  | *renkantes | *renkanti̯ās | *turintes | *turinti̯ās | *laikāntes | *laikānti̯ās
Dative  | *renkantei | *renkanti̯āi | *turintei | *turinti̯āi | *laikāntei | *laikānti̯āi
Accusative  | *renkantin | *renkant | *renkanti̯ān | *turintin | *turint | *turinti̯ān | *laikāntin | *laikānt | *laikānti̯ān
Instrumental  | *renkantmi | *renkanti̯ān | *turintmi | *turinti̯ān | *laikāntmi | *laikānti̯ān
Locative  | *renkanti | *renkanti̯āi | *turinti | *turinti̯āi | *laikānti | *laikānti̯āi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *renkante | *renkantī | *renkanti̯āi | *turinte | *turintī | *turinti̯āi | *laikānte' | *laikāntī | *laikānti̯āi
Dative
Instrumental  | *renkantmā | *renkanti̯āmā | *turintmā | *turinti̯āmā | *laikāntmā | *laikānti̯āmā
Genitive
Locative  | *renkantaus | *renkanti̯āus | *turintaus | *turinti̯āus | *laikāntaus | *laikānti̯āus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *renkantes | *renkantā | *renkanti̯ās | *turintes | *turintā | *turinti̯ās | *laikāntes | *laikāntā | *laikānti̯ās
Genitive  | *renkantōn | *renkanti̯ōn | *turintōn | *turinti̯ōn | *laikāntōn | *laikānti̯ōn
Dative  | *renkantmas | *renkanti̯āmas | *turintmas | *turinti̯āmas | *laikāntmas | *laikānti̯āmas
Accusative  | *renkantins | *renkantā | *renkanti̯āns | *turintins | *turintā | *turinti̯āns | *laikāntins | *laikāntā | *laikānti̯āns
Instrumental  | *renkantmīs | *renkanti̯āmīs | *turintmīs | *turinti̯āmīs | *laikāntmīs | *laikānti̯āmīs
Locative  | *renkantsu | *renkanti̯āsu | *turintsu | *turinti̯āsu | *laikāntsu | *laikānti̯āsu
Present passive participles  | *o-stem  | *i-stem  | *ā-stem

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *renkamas | *renkaman / *renkama | *renkamā | *turimas | *turiman / *turima | *turimā | *laikāmas | *laikāman / *laikāma | *laikāmā
Genitive  | *renkamas(a) / *renkamā | *renkamās | *turimas(a) / *turimā | *turimās | *laikāmas(a) / *laikāmā | *laikāmās
Dative  | *renkamōi | renkamāi | *turimōi | *turimāi | *laikāmōi | *laikāmāi
Accusative  | *renkaman | *renkaman / *renkama | *renkamān | *turiman | *turiman /*turima | *turimān | *laikāman | *laikāman / *laikāma | *laikāmān
Instrumental  | *renkamō | *renkamān | *turimō | *turimān | *laikāmō | *laikāmān
Locative  | *renkamei | *renkamāi | *turimei | *turimāi | *laikāmei | *laikāmāi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *renkamō | *renkamai | *renkamāi | *turimō | *turimai | *turimāi | *laikāmō | *laikāmai | *laikāmāi
Dative
Instrumental  | *renkamamā | *renkamāmā | *turimamā | *turimāmā | *laikāmamā | *laikāmāmā
Genitive
Locative  | *renkamōus | *renkamāus | *turimōus | *turimāus | *laikāmōus | *laikāmāus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *renkamai | *renkamā | *renkamās | *turimai | *turimā | *turimās | *laikāmai | *laikāmā | *laikāmās
Genitive  | *renkamōn | *turimōn | *laikāmōn
Dative  | *renkamamas | *renkamāmas | *turimamas | *turimāmas | *laikāmamas | *laikāmāmas
Accusative  | *renkamōns | *renkamā | *renkamāns | *turimōns | *turimā | *turimāns | *laikāmōns | *laikāmā | *laikāmāns
Instrumental  | *renkamais | *renkamāmīs | *turimais | *turimāmīs | *laikāmais | *laikāmāmīs
Locative  | *renkameisu | *renkamāsu | *turimeisu | *turimāsu | *laikāmeisu | *laikāmāsu

Future participles of the verbs *būtei 'be', *turētei 'have':

Future active participles  | Infinitive stems (all the verbs)

|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būsi̯ants | *būsi̯ant | *būsi̯antī | *turēsi̯ants | *turēsi̯ant | *turēsi̯antī
Genitive  | *būsi̯antes | *būsi̯anti̯ās | *turēsi̯antes | *turēsi̯anti̯ās
Dative  | *būsi̯antei | *būsi̯anti̯āi | *turēsi̯antei | *turēsi̯anti̯āi
Accusative  | *būsi̯antin | *būsi̯ant | *būsi̯anti̯ān | *turēsi̯antin | *turēsi̯ant | *turēsi̯anti̯ān
Instrumental  | *būsi̯antmi | *būsi̯anti̯ān | *turēsi̯antmi | *turēsi̯anti̯ān
Locative  | *būsi̯anti | *būsi̯anti̯āi | *turēsi̯anti | *turēsi̯anti̯āi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *būsi̯ante | *būsi̯antī | *būsi̯anti̯āi | *turēsi̯ante | *turēsi̯antī | *turēsi̯anti̯āi
Dative
Instrumental  | *būsi̯antmā | *būsi̯anti̯āmā | *turēsi̯antmā | *turēsi̯anti̯āmā
Genitive
Locative  | *būsi̯antaus | *būsi̯anti̯āus | *turēsi̯antaus | *turēsi̯anti̯āus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būsi̯antes | *būsi̯antā | *būsi̯anti̯ās | *turēsi̯antes | *turēsi̯antā | *turēsi̯anti̯ās
Genitive  | *būsi̯antōn | *būsi̯anti̯ōn | *turēsi̯antōn | *turēsi̯anti̯ōn
Dative  | *būsi̯antmas | *būsi̯anti̯āmas | *turēsi̯antmas | *turēsi̯anti̯āmas
Accusative  | *būi̯antins | *būsi̯antā | *būsi̯anti̯āns | *turēsi̯antins | *turēsi̯antā | *turēsi̯anti̯āns
Instrumental  | *būsi̯antmīs | *būsi̯anti̯āmīs | *turēsi̯antmīs | *turēsi̯anti̯āmīs
Locative  | *būsi̯antsu | *būsi̯anti̯āsu | *turēsi̯antsu | *turēsi̯anti̯āsu
Future passive participles  | Infinitive stems (all the verbs)

|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būsi̯amas | *būsi̯aman / *būsi̯ama | *būsi̯amā | *turēsi̯amas | *turēsi̯aman / *turēsi̯ama | *turēsi̯amā
Genitive  | *būsi̯amas(a) / *būsi̯amā | *būsi̯amās | *turēsi̯amas(a) / *turēsi̯amā | *turēsi̯amās
Dative  | *būsi̯amōi | *būsi̯amāi  | *turēsi̯amōi | *turēsi̯amāi
Accusative  | *būsi̯aman | *būsi̯aman / *būsi̯ama | *būsi̯amān | *turēsi̯aman | *turēsi̯aman / *turēsi̯ama | *turēsi̯amān
Instrumental  | *būsi̯amō | *būsi̯amān | *turēsi̯amō | *turēsi̯amān
Locative  | *būsi̯amei | *būsi̯amāi | *turēsi̯amei | *turēsi̯amāi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *būsi̯amō | *būsi̯amai | *būsi̯amāi | *turēsi̯amō | *turēsi̯amai | *turēsi̯amāi
Dative
Instrumental  | *būsi̯amamā | *būsi̯amāmā | *turēsi̯amamā | *turēsi̯amāmā
Genitive
Locative  | *būsi̯amōus | *būsi̯amāus | *turēsi̯amōus | *turēsi̯amāus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būsi̯amai | *būsi̯amā | *būsi̯amās | *turēsi̯amai | *turēsi̯amā | *turēsi̯amās
Genitive  | *būsi̯amōn | *turēsi̯amōn
Dative  | *būsi̯amamas | *būsi̯amāmas | *turēsi̯amamas | *turēsi̯amāmas
Accusative  | *būsi̯amōns | *būsi̯amā | *būsi̯amāns | *turēsi̯amōns | *turēsi̯amā | *turēsi̯amāns
Instrumental  | *būsi̯amais | *būsi̯amāmīs | *turēsi̯amais | *turēsi̯amāmīs
Locative  | *būsi̯ameisu | *būsi̯amāsu | *turēsi̯ameisu | *turēsi̯amāsu

Past participles of the verbs *būtei 'be', *turētei 'have', *laikītei 'hold':

Past active participles  | *ā-stem  | *ē-stem

|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *turēi̯ents / *turēi̯ēs | *turēi̯ent / *turēi̯us | *turēi̯usī | *laikents / *laiki̯usēs | *laikent / *laiki̯us | *laiki̯usī
Genitive  | *turēi̯uses | *turēi̯usi̯ās | *laiki̯uses | *laiki̯usi̯ās
Dative  | *turēi̯usei | *turēi̯usi̯āi | *laiki̯usei | *laiki̯usi̯āi
Accusative  | *turēi̯usin | *turēi̯ent / *turēi̯us | *turēi̯usi̯ān | *laiki̯usin | *laikent / *laiki̯us | *laiki̯usi̯ān
Instrumental  | *turēi̯usmi | *turēi̯usi̯ān | *laiki̯usmi | *laiki̯usi̯ān
Locative  | *turēi̯usi | *turēi̯usi̯āi | *laiki̯usi | *laiki̯usi̯āi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *turēi̯use | *turēi̯usī | *turēi̯usi̯āi | *laiki̯use | *laiki̯usī | *laiki̯usi̯āi
Dative
Instrumental  | *turēi̯usmā | *turēi̯usi̯āmā | *laiki̯usmā | *laiki̯usi̯āmā
Genitive
Locative  | *turēi̯usaus | *turēi̯usi̯āus | *laiki̯usaus | *laiki̯usi̯āus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *turēi̯entes / *turēi̯uses | *turēi̯entā / *turēi̯usā | *turēi̯usi̯ās | *laikentes / *laiki̯uses | *laikentā / *laiki̯usā | *laiki̯usi̯ās
Genitive  | *turēi̯usōn | *turēi̯usi̯ōn | *laiki̯usōn | *laiki̯usi̯ōn
Dative  | *turēi̯usmas | *turēi̯usi̯āmas | *laiki̯usmas | *laiki̯usi̯āmas
Accusative  | *turēi̯usins | *turēi̯entā / *turēi̯usā | *turēi̯usi̯āns | *laiki̯usins | *laikentā / *laiki̯usā | *laiki̯usi̯āns
Instrumental  | *turēi̯usmīs | *turēi̯usi̯āmīs | *laiki̯usmīs | *laiki̯usi̯āmīs
Locative  | *turēi̯u(s)su | *turēi̯usi̯āsu | *laiki̯u(s)su | *laiki̯usi̯āsu
Past passive participles  | Infinitive stems (all the verbs)

|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būtas | *būtan / *būta | *būtā | *turētas | *turētan/ *turēta | *turētā
Genitive  | *būtas(a) / *būtā | *būtās | *turētas(a) / *turētā | *turētās
Dative  | *būtōi | *būtāi | *turētōi | *turētāi
Accusative  | *būtan | *būtan / *būta | *būtān | *turētan | *turētan / *turēta | *turētān
Instrumental  | *būtō | *būtān | *turētō | *turētān
Locative  | *būtei | *būtāi | *turētei | *turētāi
Dual  | Nominative
Accusative
Vocative  | *būtō | *būtai | *būtāi | *turētō | *turētai | *turētāi
Dative
Instrumental  | *būtamā | *būtāmā | *turētamā | *turētāmā
Genitive
Locative  | *būtōus | *būtāus | *turētōus | *turētāus
Plural  | Nominative
Vocative  | *būtai | *būtā | *būtās | *turētai | *turētā | *turētās
Genitive  | *būtōn | *turētōn
Dative  | *būtamas | *būtāmas | *turētamas | *turētāmas
Accusative  | *būtōns | *būtā | *būtāns | *turētōns | *turētā | *turētāns
Instrumental  | *būtais | *būtāmīs | *turētais | *turētāmīs
Locative  | *būteisu | *būtāsu | *turēteisu | *turētāsu

### Pronouns

[edit]

The inflexions of PIE were already different significantly in comparison to nominals. As in the case of PIE, the demonstrative pronouns of Proto-Baltic could indicate three levels of varying distance from the speaker: close range *šis and *is, distant range *anas, and unspecified range *tas. The latter demonstrative pronoun, which had three grammatical genders, was the equivalent to the third-person. There were two personal pronouns, they had no grammatical gender — *ež (*eš) 'I' and *tu / *tū 'you', which possessed suppletive inflexion forms preserved from PIE. The reflexive pronoun *seu̯e 'oneself' only had a singular form without the nominative as it does in the current Baltic languages. The singular forms of the pronoun *seu̯e were also used with dual and plural objects, i.e. the singular also served as dual and plural.[76]

Dutch Professor Frederik Kortlandt believed that only the oldest and non-renewed pronoun forms should be reconstructed in Proto-Baltic language while Lithuanian linguist-historian Professor Zigmas Zinkevičius believed older pronoun forms only existed at the earliest stages of Proto-Baltic.[77]

#### Personal pronouns

[edit]

First person
Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Older form  | Newer form  | Older form  | Newer form
Nominative  | *ež (*eš) | *ṷe | *mes
Genitive  | *mene, *mei[78] | *nōi̯aus | nūi̯aus | *nōsōn | *nūsōn
Dative  | *menei, *mei[78] | *nōmā | *nūmā | *nōmas | *nūmas
Accusative  | *mēn, *me[78] | *nō | *na | *nōs | *nas
Instrumental  | *menimi | *nōmā | *nūmā | *nōmīs | *nūmīs
Locative  | *meni | *nōi̯aus | nūi̯aus | *nōsu | *nūsu

Second person
Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Older form  | Newer form  | Older form  | Newer form
Nominative  | *tu / *tū | *i̯ū | *i̯ūs
Genitive  | *teṷe, *tei[78] | *ṷōi̯aus | *i̯ūi̯aus | *ṷōsōn | *i̯ūsōn
Dative  | *tebei, *tei[78] | *ṷōmā | *i̯ūmā | *ṷōmas | *i̯ūmas
Accusative  | *tēn, *te[78] | *ṷō | *ṷa | *ṷōs | *ṷas
Instrumental  | *tebimi | *ṷōmā | *i̯ūmā | *ṷōmīs | *i̯ūmīs
Locative  | *tebi | *ṷōi̯aus | *i̯ūi̯aus | *ṷōsu | *i̯ūsu

Third person

Demonstrative pronoun *tas was the equivalent to the third person.

Case  | Singular  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Nominative  | *tas | *ta | *tā | *tō | *tai / *tei | *tai / *tei | *tā | *tās
Genitive  | *tasi̯a | *tasi̯ās | *ta(i)i̯aus | *teisōn | *tāsōn
Dative  | *tasmei | *tasi̯āi | *teimā | *teimas | *tāmas
Accusative  | *tan | *ta | *tān | *tō | *tai / *tei | *tōns | *tā | *tāns
Instrumental  | *tō | *tān | *teimā | *tais | *tāmīs
Locative  | *tasmi | *tāi | *ta(i)i̯aus | *teisu | *tāsu

#### Reflexive pronoun

[edit]

Case  | Singular

|

Genitive  | *seu̯e, *sei[78]
Dative  | *sebei, *sei[78]
Accusative  | *sēn, *se[78]
Instrumental  | *sebimi
Locative  | *sebi

#### Interrogative pronouns

[edit]

There were two interrogative pronouns—masculine *kat[a/e]ras, neuter *kat[a/e]ra, feminine *kat[a/e]rā, all meaning 'which', and masculine–feminine *kas, neuter *ka, meaning 'who, what'. The latter was used as a relative pronoun in compound sentences. According to Zigmas Zinkevičius, relative pronouns had all three genders,[79] and Vytautas Mažiulis believed pronoun *kas had the feminine form *kā when it was used as a relative pronoun.[80] Interrogative and relative pronouns were inflected the same way as the demonstrative pronoun *tas.

#### Indefinite pronouns

[edit]

Indefinite pronouns, such as masculine *kitas, neuter *kita, feminine *kitā , meaning 'other', or masculine *u̯isas, neuter *u̯isa, feminine *u̯isā, meaning 'all, entire, whole', were also inflected as the pronoun *tas.[79]

#### Possessive pronouns

[edit]

Possessive pronouns indicate divisions between Baltic dialects: the western areal would have forms, such as the masculine *mai̯as, neuter *mai̯a, feminine *mai̯ā 'mine'; masculine *tu̯ai̯as, neuter *tu̯ai̯a, feminine *tu̯ai̯ā 'yours'; masculine *su̯ai̯as, neuter *su̯ai̯a, feminine *su̯ai̯ā 'oneself'. In comparison, the eastern areal would possess forms like the masculine *menas, neuter *mena, feminine *menā; masculine *teu̯as, neuter *teu̯a, feminine *teu̯ā; masculine *seu̯as, neuter *seu̯a, feminine *seu̯ā, respectively. These pronouns would be inflected as other gendered pronouns, although they could have been used only in their genitive form. The eigenvalue of plural and dual possessive pronouns was possibly expressed in the genitive case of plural personal pronouns (e.g. *nōsōn (→*nūsōn) 'ours', *ṷōsōn (→*i̯ūsōn) 'yours').[81]

| Western Baltic areal  | Eastern Baltic areal  | Meaning

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine  | Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Singular | 1st | *mai̯as | *mai̯a | *mai̯ā | *menas | *mena | *menā | 'mine'
2nd  | *tu̯ai̯as | *tu̯ai̯a | *tu̯ai̯ā | *teu̯as | *teu̯a | *teu̯ā | 'yours'

Western Baltic pronouns masculine *su̯ai̯as, neuter *su̯ai̯a, feminine *su̯ai̯ā 'oneself', Eastern Baltic ones masculine *seu̯as, neuter *seu̯a, feminine *seu̯ā 'oneself' could be used with all persons.[82] The equivalent of third person possessive pronoun was the genitive case of the demonstrative pronoun *tas, which had three numbers and genders.

### Numerals

[edit]

#### Cardinal numbers

[edit]

Cardinal number 6 has three different reflexes in the Balto-Slavic languages: one in Latvian and pre-Lithuanian, another one in Old Prussian and a final one in Proto-Slavic. Hence, number 6 in PBS had either two or three versions: one version with a reflex in Proto-Slavic and either one single version or two different versions with two reflexes in PB. The hypothetical form of number 6 in PBS with medial *-w- is reconstructed by Vytautas Mažiulis (2004).[83]

Cardinal

number

| PIE | PBS | PB

|
|
|

One (1) | *h₁óynos (m.)

*h₁óyneh₂ (f.)

*h₁óynom (n.)

| *aiˀnas

*aiˀnāˀ

*aiˀna

| *ainas; *einas

*ainā

*aina

Two (2) | *dwóh₁

*dwóy(h₁)

| *duwō

*duwai

| *d(u)u̯ō

*d(u)u̯ai

Three (3) | *tréyes  | *tríjes  | *trii̯es
Four (4) | *kʷetwóres  | *ketū́res  | *ketures
Five (5) | *pénkʷe  | *pénki  | *penkes
Six (6) | *swéḱs  | *séš?

*uš?

[*šéš]

(*sweš[84])

| *sešes (> Ltv. seši, pre-Lith. *seši)

Proto-Western-Baltic *us

[> PS *šȅstь]

(> both PB *sešes and *us)

Seven (7) | *septḿ̥  | *septín  | *septines
Eight (8) | *oḱtṓw  | *aśtṓ  | *aštōnes
Nine (9) | *h₁néwn̥  | *néwin

(> variant *dewin)

| *neu̯ines

(> PS *dȅvętь)

Ten (10) | *déḱm̥ > *déḱm̥t  | *déśimt  | *dešimts

Numerals in Proto-Baltic, except for 'two', had noun endings: *ainas / *einas[85][86] (PIE: *h₁óynos) 'one' was inflected the same way as noun word stems o (masculine and neuter) and ā (feminine), this numeral had a singular, dual and plural number;

masculine *d(u)u̯ō (PIE: *dwóh₁) and feminine-neuter *d(u)u̯ai (PIE: *dwóy(h₁)) 'two' was inflected as a demonstrative pronoun dual;

*trii̯es (masc. PIE: *tréyes) 'three' was inflected as a plural noun with the word stem i and was common for all genders;

eventually, *ketures (masc. PIE: *kʷetwóres) 'four' was inflected as a plural noun with the consonant word stem r and was also the same for all three genders.[87]

| *d(u)u̯ō 'two'  | *trii̯es 'three'  | *ketures 'four'

|
|
|

Masculine  | Neuter  | Feminine
Nominative  | *d(u)u̯ō[88][89][90] | *d(u)u̯ai | *trii̯es | *ketures
Genitive  | *d(u)u̯a(i)i̯aus | *trii̯ōn | *keturōn
Dative  | *d(u)u̯eimā | *trimas | *keturmas
Accusative  | *d(u)u̯ō | *d(u)u̯ai | *trins | *keturins
Instrumental  | *d(u)u̯eimā | *trimīs | *keturmīs
Locative  | *d(u)u̯a(i)i̯aus | *trisu | *ketursu

Proto-Baltic people applied the principles for *ketures (PIE: *kʷetwóres) 'four' inflexion to numerals *penkes (PIE: *pénkʷe) 'five', *ušes / *sešes < *su̯ešes[91] (PIE:*(s)wéḱs) 'six', *septines (PIE: *septḿ̥) 'seven', *aštōnes (PIE: *(h₁)oḱtṓw) 'eight' and *neu̯ines (PIE: *h₁néwn̥) 'nine'.

In PIE, numerals from five to nine were not inflected. The early Proto-Baltic might have retained the uninflected numeral forms of *su̯eš,[91] *septin 'seven', *aštō 'eight', *neu̯in 'nine' as well.[92] The reconstruction of Latvian language indicates that *septines 'seven' and *neu̯ines 'nine' with the short *i is plausible. The numeral 10, *dešimts (PIE *deḱmt- < *deḱṃ), was declined as the root noun and had all three numbers.[93]

#### Ordinal numbers

[edit]

The masculine and neuter ordinal numbers were inflected as nouns possessing word stem o while feminine ones were inflected as nouns with word stem ā. Ordinal number 6 has two reflexes in the Baltic Languages from PBS; these two reflexes could have come from either two different form in PBS or a single form; the hypothetical single form, with medial *-w-, is reconstructed by Vytautas Mažiulis (2004).[83]

Ordinal numbers from first to tenth in Proto-Baltic were as follows:

Ordinal

number

| PIE | PBS | PB

|
|
|

First | *pr̥h₃wós

*pr̥̄'mos[94] (*pr̥h₃mós?)

| *pírˀwas

*pírˀmas

| (> PS *pьrvъ)

*pirmas

Second | *h₂énteros

*(h₁)witoros

| *ántaras

*witaras

| *antaras

(> PS *vъtorъ)

Third | *trit(y)ós  | *tirtias > *tretias  | *treti̯as
Fourth | *kʷ(e)twr̥tós  | *ketwirtas  | *ketu̯irtas
Fifth | *penkʷetós  | *penktas  | *penktas
Sixth (a) | *sweḱstós

*weḱstós? *uḱstós?

| *seśtas

*uśtas

(*sweštas)[95]

| *seštas > Ltv. sestais, pre-Lith. *seštas

*uštas > Pruss. *ustas > usts/uschts (according to Dereven)

(> both PB *seštas and *uštas)

Seventh | *septm̥mós  | *septmas  | *septmas (> Old Lith. sekmas)
Eight | *oḱtowós > *oḱtmos?

(by analogy with *septm̥mós)

| *aśtmas  | *aštmas (> Old Lith. ašmas)
Ninth | *h₁newn̥nós > *h₁newntós?

(by analogy with other numerals)

| *newin(t)as

*dewin(t)as

| *neu̯intas (> Pruss. newīnts)

(> PS devętъ; Lith. devintas)

Tenth | *deḱm̥tós  | *deśimtás  | *dešimtas

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Mažiulis V. J. Baltic languages. Development of the individual Baltic languages. Encyclopedia Britannica.
2. ^ Gimbutienė, Marija (2004). Балты [Baltic people] (in Russian). Moscow: Centrpoligraf. pp. 60–74; 223. ISBN 5-9524-1359-5.
3. ^ Dini 2000, pp. 109–110.
4. ^ Dini 2000, p. 56.
5. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas (2 May 2018). "Lietuvių kalbos kilmė [The Origins of Lithuanian language]". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija.
6. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 151\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
7. ^ Smoczyński, W. (1986). Języki indoeuropejskie. Języki bałtyckie [Indo-European languages. Baltic languages] (in Polish). Warsaw: PWN.
8. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas [Science]. pp. 154–155. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
9. ^ Dini 2000, p. 155.
10. ^ Karaliūnas S. (2005). Baltų praeitis istoriniuose šaltiniuose. 2. [The Past of the Balts in Historical Records. 2.] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas [Institute of Lithuanian language]. pp. 404–411. ISBN 9986-668-69-7.
11. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas [Science]. p. 150\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
12. ^ a b Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 151\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
13. ^ Toporov, Vladimir (2006). Мировые языки. Балтийские языки [World languages. Baltic languages] (in Russian). Moscow: Academia. p. 225\. ISBN 5-87444-225-1.
14. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. [History of Lithuanian Language, 1st edition] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 248\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
15. ^ Mallory, P.; Douglas, Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. pp. 497\. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
16. ^ Pronk, Tijmen (2022). "Balto-Slavic". In T. Olander (ed.). The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. "During the last quarter of a century, the communis opinio appears to have moved firmly in favour of the idea that there was indeed a period of shared innovations between Baltic and Slavic directly following the disintegration of the Proto-Indo-European parent language."
17. ^ Petit, Daniel (2004). Les langues baltiques et la question balto-slave [The Baltic Languages and the Balto-Slavic Question] (in French). Paris: École normale supérieure. pp. 34–35. "Currently, few scholars still defend the idea of a single Balto-Slavic language [...] If Balto-Slavic existed, it was surely not as a totally unified language, but rather as a group of dialects permeable to the diffusion of isoglosses."
18. ^ Schmalsieg, R. William (2013). Review of Aisčiai. Kilmė [The Aistians: Their Origin], by Eugenijus Jovaiša. Acta Linguistica Lithuanica. p. 152. "I personally think the Balto-Slavic problem is insoluble, since whatever common changes the Baltic and Slavic may have could just as well be ascribed to parallel development."
19. ^ Pronk, Tijmen (2022). "Balto-Slavic". In T. Olander (ed.). The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 276.
20. ^ Dini 2000, p. 55cf. J. Otrębski 1956–1965 I, p. 44; Schmitt-Brandt 1972; Mayer 1981.
21. ^ Kortlandt, Frederik (2009), Baltica & Balto-Slavica, p. 5, "Though Prussian is undoubtedly closer to the East Baltic languages than to Slavic, the characteristic features of the Baltic languages seem to be either retentions or results of parallel development and cultural interaction. Thus I assume that Balto-Slavic split into three identifiable branches, each of which followed its own course of development."
22. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, p. 20, "I am not convinced that it is justified to reconstruct a Proto-Baltic stage. The term Proto-Baltic is used for convenience's sake."
23. ^ Villanueva Svensson, Miguel (2023). The Rise of Acuteness in Balto-Slavic. Leiden: Brill. p. 9.
24. ^ Svensson, Miguel Villanueva (2014). "On the relationship between West Baltic and East Baltic". In Tatyana Tsivyan, Artūras Judžentis, Maria Zavyalova (Eds.), Baltai ir slavai: Dvasinių kultūrų sankirtos [Balts and Slavs: The Intersection of Spiritual Cultures]. Vilnius: Versmė. p. 172. "The development of the verbal system, I believe, strongly supports the traditional notion that Old Prussian, Lithuanian and Latvian are to be derived from a common unitary Proto-Baltic […] This conclusion is clearly supported by the lexicon."
25. ^ Hill, Eugen (2016). "Phonological evidence for a Proto-Baltic stage in the evolution of East and West Baltic". In (Eds.), International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction. p. 227. "The traditional assumption of a Proto-Baltic stage in the development of Baltic languages can be additionally supported by two non-trivial phonological developments found both in East and West Baltic but not shared by Slavonic. The first development is the shortening of Proto-BSl *ī̃ in unstressed syllables. The second development is the characteristic contraction of the vowels in Proto-BSl *-iā- into something like *-ē̃-, whereas no contraction occurred in Proto-BSl *-ii̯ā-."
26. ^ Joseph, Brian D. (2017). Balto-Slavic: what Meillet was Thinking, or, what was Meillet Thinking?! The Ohio State University. pp. 44–45.
27. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 9\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
28. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 134. ISBN 5-420-00102-0. "Didesnis slavų bendrybių su prūsais ir latviais skaičius rodo, jog šių baltų genčių protėviai bus vėliau turėję dar glaudesnius ir ilgesnius kontaktus su slavais negu lietuviai. Galbūt lietuvių protėvius nuo slavų kurį laiką skyrė išnykusios baltų gentys <...>"
29. ^ Dini, Pietro U.; Richardson, Milda B.; Richardson, Robert E. (2014). Foundations of Baltic languages (PDF). Vilnius: Eugrimas. p. 206-208. ISBN 978-609-437-263-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
30. ^ Dini 2000, p. 143.
31. ^ Birnbaum, H. Х. Бирнбаум (1985). "O dvukh osnovnykh napravleniyakh v yazykovom razvitii" О двух основных направлениях в языковом развитии (PDF). Voprosy yazykoznaniya Вопросы языкознания (in Russian). 1985 (2): 36.
32. ^ "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/derbaz". Wiktionary. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
33. ^ "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/gōmô". Wiktionary. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
34. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 116\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
35. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 114–116\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
36. ^ a b Dinni 2000, p. 134. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDinni2000 (help)
37. ^ Jurkutaitytė, Rita (2001). Emocijų veiksmažodžiai baltų ir germanų kalbose [The Emotional Verbs in Baltic and Germanic Languages] (in Lithuanian, abstract available in English and German). Klaipėda University. p. 75.
38. ^ Karaliūnas 1968, p. 97.
39. ^ Karaliūnas 1968, p. 93.
40. ^ Karaliūnas 1968, p. 41.
41. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 228.
42. ^ Dini 2000, p. 158.
43. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 173.
44. ^ a b Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas [Science]. p. 189\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
45. ^ a b Villanueva Svensson, M. (2016). Indoeuropiečių kalbotyros pagrindai. Antras pataisytas ir papildytas leidimas [Basics of Indo-European Linguistics. Second Revised and Augmented Edition] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Vilnius University. p. 77\. ISBN 978-609-459-788-6.
46. ^ Shevelov, G. Y. (1964). A Prehistory of Slavic. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. p. 50.
47. ^ Olander, Th. (2009). Balto-Slavic Accentual Mobility. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 150\. ISBN 978-3-11-020397-4.
48. ^ Fortson, B. (2004). Indo-European language and culture. An Introduction. Padstow: Blackwell. pp. 380. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.
49. ^ Dini 2000, p. 81.
50. ^ It is not an independent consonant but an *s allophone coming before a voiced consonant.
51. ^ In Indo-European studies it may also be referred to as *w.
52. ^ In Indo-European studies it may also be referred to as *y.
53. ^ a b Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 193–194\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
54. ^ Kardelis, V. (2015). Lietuvių kalbos istorijos pradmenys. Vokalizmas ir prozodija. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. p. 84\. ISBN 978-609-459-472-4.
55. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas [Science]. p. 43\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
56. ^ Stang, Chr. (1966). Vergleichende Grammatik der Baltischen Sprachen [Comparative Grammar of the Baltic Languages] (in German). Oslo-Bergen-Tromsö: Universitetsforlaget.
57. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos kilmė. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 195–208\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
58. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1981). Lietuvių kalbos istorinė gramatika. II. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 26–27.
59. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas [Science]. pp. 209–210. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
60. ^ V. Mažiulis. ''arwis''. Prūsų kalbos paveldo duomenų bazė [Prussian language heritage database]. Retrieved on January 7, 2022.
61. ^ Савченко, А. Н. (2003). Сравнительная грамматика индоевропейских языков. М.: УРСС. pp. 285–288.
62. ^ Kvietkauskas, V. (1985). Tarptautinių žodžių žodynas [International Word Dictionary]. Vilnius: The Chief Editorial Office of Encyclopedias.
63. ^ Fortson, B. (2004). Indo-European language and culture. An Introduction. Padstow: Blackwell. pp. 380—381. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.
64. ^ Bičovský, J. (2009). Vademecum starými indoevropskými jazyky [Pocket Reference in Old Indo-European Languages] (in Czech) Prague: Charles University Publishing House. p. 199\. ISBN 978-80-7308-287-1.
65. ^ Dini 2000, p. 108.
66. ^ Дини П. (2002). Балтийские языки. ОГИ. p. 114\. ISBN 5-94282-046-5.
67. ^ Stang Chr. (1966). Vergleichende Grammatik der Baltischen Sprachen. Oslo-Bergen-Tromsö: Universitetsforlaget. pp. 392–393.
68. ^ Stang Chr. (1966). Vergleichende Grammatik der Baltischen Sprachen. Oslo-Bergen-Tromsö: Universitetsforlaget. p. 309.
69. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1981). Lietuvių kalbos istorinė gramatika. II. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 117–121.
70. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. pp. 218–219\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
71. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 217\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
72. ^ a b Z. Zinkevičius. Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 244.
73. ^ "laicīt". tezaurs.lv. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
74. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1981). Lietuvių kalbos istorinė gramatika. II. [Historical Grammar of Lithuanian Language. Vol. 2.] Vilnius: Mokslas. pp. 162–164.
75. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 216\. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
76. ^ Dini 2000, p. 100.
77. ^ Kortlandt F (2013). "Balto-Slavic personal pronouns and their accentuation". Baltistica. XLVIII(1), Nr. 1 (5-1): 7–8.
78. ^ a b c d e f g h i Unstressed variant.
79. ^ a b Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian]. I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 212.
80. ^ Mažiulis 1994b, 94: Kas [who]. Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė.
81. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija. I [History of Lithuanian Language]. Vilnius: Mokslas. pp. 45, 214. ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
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83. ^ a b Mažiulis, Vytautas (2004). Prūsų kalbos istorinė gramatika. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. pp. 57–58\. ISBN 978-9986-19-639-6.
84. ^ Mažiulis, Vytautas (2004). Prūsų kalbos istorinė gramatika. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. ISBN 978-9986-19-639-6.
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86. ^ Mažiulis, V. (2004). Prūsų kalbos istorinė gramatika (PDF). Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. p. 66\. ISBN 9986-19-639-6.
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88. ^ Zinkevičius, Z. (1981). Lietuvių kalbos istorinė gramatika. II. Vilnius: „Mokslas“. p. 57.
89. ^ V. Mažiulis. "dwai". Prūsų kalbos paveldo duomenų bazė [Prussian language heritage database]. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
90. ^ "du". Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
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## References

[edit]

* Dini, Pietro U. (2000). Baltų kalbos. Lyginamoji istorija [Baltic languages. Comparative History]. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas.
* Karaliūnas, Simas (1968). Kai kurie baltų ir slavų kalbų seniausiųjų santykių klausimai [Certain Questions About the Oldest Relationship of Baltic and Slavic Languages] (in Lithuanian). Acta Linguistica Lithuanica.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Klimas, Antanas. "Balto-Slavic or Baltic and Slavic? (The Relationship of Baltic and Slavic Languages)". In: Lituanus. 1967, Volume 14 13, No.2 - Summer. ISSN 0024-5089
* Hill, Eugen. "Phonological evidence for a Proto-Baltic stage in the evolution of East and West Baltic". In: International journal of diachronic linguistics and linguistic reconstruction [IJDL]. 2016, 13, p. 205-232. ISSN 1614-5291.
* Kortland, Frederic. "Proto-Baltic?". In: Baltistica. 2018, t. 53, Nr. 2, pp. 175–185. DOI: 10.15388/Baltistica.53.2.2338
* Svensson, Miguel Villanueva. "On the relationship between West Baltic and East Baltic". In: Baltai ir slavai: dvasinių kultūrų sankirtos. Vilnius: Versmė, 2014. pp. 162–176. ISBN 978-9955-589-99-0.

## External links

[edit]

* Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary Database (in Lithuanian)
* Old Prussian Language Heritage Database (in Lithuanian)
* Foundations of Baltic Languages, Pietro U. Dini (in English)

* v
* t
* e

Baltic languages

West Baltic|

* Galindian
* Old Prussian
* Pomeranian Baltic
* Sudovian
* Skalvian (possibly separate West Baltic)

East Baltic|

* Curonian?
* Latvian
* Kursenieki
* Latgalian*
* Lithuanian
* Aukštaitian
* Samogitian*
* Selonian
* Semigallian

Dnieper-Oka|

* Golyad

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Balto-Slavic
* Proto-Baltic

Italics indicate extinct languages · Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left · Asterisk (*) indicates dialects occasionally classified as languages · Question mark (?) indicates disputed classification.
*[c.]: circa
*[v]: View this template
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*[e]: Edit this template
*[sg.]: singular
*[du.]: dual
*[pl.]: plural