in nominative singular of masculine o-stems, and all the remaining East Slavic dialects on the other. Examples A criminal case: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 109 (between end of 11th century and 1110s; excavated 1954) Original text (with added word division): грамота ѡтъ жизномира къ микоуле коупилъ еси робоу плъскове а ныне мѧ въ томъ ѧла кънѧгыни а ныне сѧ дроужина по мѧ пороучила а ныне ка посъли къ томоу моужеви грамотоу е ли оу него роба а се ти хочоу коне коупивъ и кънѧжъ моужъ въсадивъ та на съводы а ты атче еси не възалъ коунъ техъ а не емли ничъто же оу него Transliteration: gramota otŭ žiznomira kŭ mikule kupilŭ esi robu plŭskove a nyne mę vŭ tomŭ ęla kŭnęgyni a nyne sę družina po mę poručila a nyne ka posŭli kŭ tomu muževi gramotu e li u nego roba a se ti xoču kone kupivŭ i kŭnęžŭ mužŭ vŭsadivŭ ta na sŭvody a ty atče esi ne vŭzalŭ kunŭ texŭ a ne emli ničŭto že u nego Translation (with added explanations not present in the original text in brackets): Letter from Zhiznomir to Mikula: You have bought a female slave in Pskov. And now the princess has arrested me for it. (Obviously she has recognized the slave as having been stolen from her, and Zhiznomir is somehow connected with the affair, maybe as Mikula's family member or business partner.) But now druzhina has guaranteed for me. And now send a letter to that man (whom you have bought the slave from) and ask him whether he has another female slave. (This other slave would have to be given to the princess for the time the stolen slave would be needed as "corpus delicti" in a lawsuit to find out who the thief was.) And I want to buy a horse and have the magistrate (the "prince's man") sit on it and initiate a svod (the legal procedure to trace a whole buying chain back to the original seller and ultimately the thief). And if you have not taken the money, do not take anything from him (i.e. the slave-trader, because otherwise the whole plan might leak out). An invitation: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 497 (1340s to 1380s; excavated 1972) Original text (with added word division): поколоно ѿ гаврили ѿ посени ко зати моемоу ко горигори жи коумоу ко сестори моеи ко оулите чо би есте поихали во городо