Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ǫpyrь

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

Etymology uncertain. Skok gives two hypotheses:

From a northern Turkic language, in the form ubyr or ubyrly (“witch”).
A Slavic construction, from *u- +‎ *pyřь, “flyer” with a privative suffix. Compare *netopyřь. According to this hypothesis *ǫpyrь could have originated as a taboo for *vьlkolakъ (cf. vukodlak).

Mel’nyčuk offers a different explanation, a Slavic construction from *ǫ- +‎ *pyr-, “not burned”, with a privative suffix attached to a root meaning “fire”. The word would then indicate an uncremated corpse. He also lists alternative suggestions that others had proposed: a possible connection with *pyřь (“flyer”), as above; or from *vъ- +‎ *pěrь as a coinage related to vrěpiti (“to cling”), supposedly because a vampire bites and clings to its victims. Finally, he gives a hypothesis of Turkic origin from Bashkir убыр (ubïr, “glutton, witch, evil spirit”) or Tatar ubyr (“a mythological creature”), related to upmak (“to swallow”), but rejects this as not convincing enough.

Mel’nyčuk further proposes that the forms with initial vam- were derived by way of Old Church Slavonic *вѫпиръ (*vǫpirŭ) with prothetic *в-, borrowed into Byzantine Greek as βαμπύρος (bampúros) and then borrowed back into the South Slavic languages.

Noun

*ǫpyrь m

vampire

Declension

Declension of *ǫpyrь (i-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*ǫpyrь	*ǫpyri	ǫpyrьje, ǫpyře^*
Accusative	*ǫpyrь	*ǫpyri	*ǫpyri
Genitive	*ǫpyri	ǫpyrьju, ǫpyřu^*	ǫpyrьjь, ǫpyri^*
Locative	*ǫpyri	ǫpyrьju, ǫpyřu^*	*ǫpyrьxъ
Dative	*ǫpyri	*ǫpyrьma	*ǫpyrьmъ
Instrumental	*ǫpyrьmь	*ǫpyrьma	*ǫpyrьmi
Vocative	*ǫpyri	*ǫpyri	ǫpyrьje, ǫpyře^*

^* The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: упирь (upirĭ) (as a given name)
  - Belarusian: ўпір (ŭpir), упір (upir), упир (upir) (obsolete), вупар (vupar) (obsolete)
  - Russian: упырь (upyrʹ)
  - Ukrainian: упир (upyr)
South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: вампир (vampir), въпиръ (vǎpir) (obsolete), вепир (vepir) (obsolete)
- Macedonian: вампир (vampir)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: вампир, упир (archaic)
  
  Serbo-Croatian: vampir, upir (archaic)
  - → Albanian: vampir
  - → Albanian: dhampir (uncertain)
    - → English: dhampir, dhampire, dhampyr, damphyr, dunpeal, dampiel
  - → German: Vampir
    - → Danish: vampyr
      - → Greenlandic: vampyri
      - → Icelandic: vampíra
    - → Dutch: vampier
      - Afrikaans: vampier
      - → Malay: vampir
        Indonesian: vampir
    - → Estonian: vampiir
    - → French: vampire
      - → Armenian: վամպիր (vampir)
      - → Asturian: vampiru
      - → Belarusian: вампір (vampir)
      - → Catalan: vampir
      - → Czech: vampýr
      - → English: vampire
        → Bengali: ভ্যাম্পায়ার (bbhampayar)
        → Irish: vaimpír
        → Japanese: ヴァンパイア (vanpaia), バンパイア (banpaia)
        → Marathi: व्हॅम्पायर (vhĕmpāyar)
        → Thai: แวมไพร์ (wɛm-paai)
        → Scottish Gaelic: bhampair
        → Swahili: vampiri
        → Welsh: fampir
      - → Galician: vampiro
      - → Georgian: ვამპირი (vamṗiri)
      - → Greek: βαμπίρ (vampír)
      - → Italian: vampiro
      - → Malagasy: vampira
      - → Occitan: vampire
      - → Romanian: vampir
      - → Russian: вампир (vampir)
        → Azerbaijani: vampir
        → Kazakh: вампир (vampïr)
        → Kyrgyz: вампир (vampir)
        → Mongolian: вампир (vampir)
        → Turkmen: wampir
        → Uzbek: vampir
      - → Slovak: vampír
      - → Spanish: vampiro, vampira
        → Basque: banpiro
        → Cebuano: bampira
        → Tagalog: bampira
        → Waray-Waray: bampira
      - → Turkish: vampir
      - → Ukrainian: вампір (vampir)
    - → Hungarian: vámpír
    - → Latvian: vampīrs
    - → Lithuanian: vampyras
    - → Luxembourgish: Vampir
    - → Norwegian: vampyr
    - → Swedish: vampyr
    - → West Frisian: fampier
    - → Yiddish: וואַמפּיר‎ (vampir)
  - → Greek: βάμπιρας (vámpiras), βόμτηρας (vómtiras)
  - → Polish: wampir
- Slovene: vampir
West Slavic:
- Czech: upír
- Polish: upiór, wąpierz (archaic)
- Slovak: upír

References

Vasmer (Fasmer), Max (Maks) (1964–1973), “упы́рь”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), translated from German and supplemented by Trubačóv Oleg, Moscow: Progress
Skok, Petar (1973) Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 3, Zagreb: JAZU, page 564
Melʹnyčuk O. S., editor (2012), “Proto-Slavic/ǫpyrь”, in Etymolohičnyj slovnyk ukrajinsʹkoji movy [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volume 6, Kiev: Naukova Dumka, page 38

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