HARD ENDINGS INSTEAD OF SOFT ENDINGS IN NEW CHURCH SLAVONIC AND OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC GREEKISMS

The article is devoted to the forms iereovi, eleomъ, fariseѡmъ, possessive mѡѷseov etc. in Modern Church Slavonic texts. Diff erent interpretations of the stems in such forms are discussed: if we assume that the stem ends in a vowel, then such forms should be treated as unique phenomena in the morphonology of Church Slavic nouns. If the stem ends in j, then it is not clear why the softness of the stem is not indicated in the spelling. The Modern Church Slavonic material is examined against the background of the data extracted from Old Church Slavonic (and partially Slavonic-Russian) manuscripts. The study shows that, while the Old Church Slavonic manuscripts somehow rival the iot stem in the soft declension and the vowel stem in the hard stem, the material from the Modern Church Slavonic sources allows us to think that both endings are joined to the iot stem (and the vowel stem is absent).