On 2006-08-09 23:28, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
> Gpl (o- and a:-stems) PBS *-o:~m (1/2)> -u:N (4)> -uN > -U.
> Masculines have replaced the ending -U > -0 with the u-stem
> ending *-euo:~m > -ovU, at least in East and West Slavic.
It's a late development. In Old Polish the endingless gen.pl. was still
used sporadically. It can still be seen in a few univerbations like
<dotychczas> 'hitherto' (cf. gen.pl. czasów 'times'), in several names
of countries or regions derived from plural ethnonyms (like Czechy, gen.
Czech, Niemcy 'Germany', gen. Niemiec) and in placenames which were once
formally plurals of family names or occupational terms.
Piotr