ретивый

From obsolete or dialectal рети́ться (retítʹsja, “to fuss, to be zealous”) +‎ -и́вый (-ívyj), from Old East Slavic ретити (retiti, “to impel, to stir”), from Old East Slavic реть (retĭ, “zeal, competition, strife”). Cognate with Old Church Slavonic реть (retĭ, “competition, strife”), Old Church Slavonic ретити (retiti, “to strive”), Ukrainian рети́тися (retýtysja, “to fight”), and Russian рать (ratʹ, “army, battle”). Further cognate with Sanskrit ऋति f (ṛtí, “attack, quarrel”), Ancient Greek ἔρις (éris, “dispute, competition”), Ancient Greek ἐρίζω (erízō, “to argue”), Ancient Greek ἐρέθω (eréthō, “to excite, to irritate”), Ancient Greek ὄρνῡμι (órnūmi, “to excite”).

• IPA^(key):

рети́вый • (retívyj) (comparative (по)рети́вее or (по)рети́вей)

1. (dated) zealous, diligent
2. lively, frisky, high-spirited
3. (dated or folk poetic) ardent, passionate

• рети́во (retívo), рети́вость (retívostʹ)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ретивый”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “ретивый”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 113