воз-

Alternative forms

• вос- (vos-) — before a voiceless consonant

Etymology

Traditionally explained as borrowing from Old Church Slavonic въз- (vŭz-); compare inherited cognate вз- (vz-). However, there is an opinion about independent development, compare the words взойти (vzojti), взобраться (vzobratʹsja), взорвать (vzorvatʹ), which indicate the presence of a second /ъ/ in the prefix, which makes it possible to create a strong position for /ъ/ and transition to /o/. Also compare възогъловие (*възъголовие) in birch bark manuscript №469. Per Zaliznyak, prefix възъ- arose by analogy with the Old East Slavic prefixes like отъ- and подъ-.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vəz]
• IPA^(key): [vɐz] (before a stressed syllable)
• IPA^(key): [ˈvoz] (when stressed)

Prefix

воз- • (voz-)

1. (used with verbs) upwards, up
2. (used with verbs) returning, re-

   ‎воз- (voz-) + ‎враща́ть (vraščátʹ, “to turn”) → ‎возвраща́ть (vozvraščátʹ, “to return”)

References