Tonight's programme

[iad58]

A commentator on Bulgarian EuroSport sent me to the reverse dictionary by saying тазвечершната програма ‘tonight's programme’ (from таз(и) вечер ‘this evening’). As it turned out, every adjective on lexicographic record with the suffix -ш-(е)н has this suffix preceded either by a vowel or by н (never by р!). In the former case the stem either is vowel-final or forfeits/contributes a final consonant to the suffix. Here is a survey:

• -V + -(е)н > -V-ш-(е)н
  
  
  
  • вчера ‘yesterday’ > вчерашен, утре ‘tomorrow’ > утрешен, &c.,
  
  
  • тук(а) ‘here’ > тукашен, там(о) ‘there’ > тамошен, &c.,
  
  
  • едно време ‘(at) one time, once upon a time’ > едновремешен ‘of old, of yore’
  
  


• -C + -(е)н > -ш-(е)н
  
  
  
  • C = с
  : днес ‘today’ > днешен (and several infrequent ones of the same pattern)
  
  • C = к
  : нататък ‘further’ > нататъшен and оттатък ‘across, over there’ > оттатъшен
  
  • C = н
  : година ‘year’ > годишен (and many derivatives), сутрин ‘morning’ > сутрешен ‘matutinal’ (vowel shift perhaps due to утрешен)
  
  • C = /j/
  : скрия ‘hide’ > скришен ‘secret(ive)’ (only such derivative, it seems, from a verb stem; not sure if it belongs here at all)


• -н(V) + -(е)н > -н-ш-(е)н
  
  
  
  • вън ‘outside’ > външен ‘exterior’
  
  
  • лани ‘last year’ > ланшен
  
  
  • онзи ден ‘the day before yesterday’ (lit. ‘that day’) > онзиденшен
  
  
  • отзарана ‘since dawn, since early morning’ > отзараншен
  
  
  • по-рано ‘earlier, formerly’ > по-раншен ‘former, oldtime’

And note the opposition:

по-ранен ‘earlier’	по-раншен ‘former, oldtime’
едновременен ‘simultaneous’ временен ‘temporary’	едновремешен ‘of yore’
вечерен ‘vespertine’	?тазвечершен ‘this evening's’

Unlike its Russian counterpart, this Bulgarian suffix never became a general adjective maker for use with vowel-final stems; instead, it has specialised in expressing relation to a specific time or place. Now it seems to be spreading to consonant-final stems, though the process is slow.