Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/čukati

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

Morphologically from *čukъ (“bang, clang; hammer, knocker”) +‎ *-ati. Proposed further origin:

• Vasmer, Snoj: Onomatopoeic related to Lithuanian kaũkti (“to howl”), Latvian kàukt (“to yell, to howl”), possibly Sanskrit कौति (káuti, “to cry, to lament”), Ancient Greek κωκῡ́ω (kōkū́ō, “to shriek”). Ultimately may reflect Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew- (“to growl, to wail”). Compare also Proto-Slavic *čavьka (“jackdaw”), Proto-Slavic *skovykъ ⇒ Slovene: skovȋk (“pygmy owl”), Proto-Slavic *čuxalъ ⇒ Bulgarian: чу́хал (čúhal, “scops owl”).
• Possibly an expressive k-extension of *kuti (“to hew”) +‎ *-kati, in particular for the secondary sense “to hammer, to hew”.

Verb

*čukati impf (perfective *čuknǫti)

1. to knock, to rattle, to throb

   → to caw, to cackle (in Slovene, East Slavic)

   → to hammer, to strike, to hew (in Eastern South Slavic)

Inflection

Derived terms

• *čukadlo (“hewing tool, knocker”)
• *čukanъ (“mortar”)

Related terms

• *čukъ (“hammer”)
• *čuxati (“to growl, to shoo”)
• *kukati (“to cuckoo”)
• *čučati (“to hang/sit on a high place (e.g. tree, pylon)”)
  • *čučedlo (“scarecrow”)
• *čugati (“to trim, to crop”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: чу́кать (čúkatʹ) (dialectal)
  • Ukrainian: чу́кати (čúkaty)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: чу́кам (čúkam)
  • Macedonian: чука (čuka)
  • Slovene: čúkati

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1977), “*čukati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 4 (*čaběniti – *děľa), Moscow: Nauka, page 131
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “čūk”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “sorodno z ... glagolom čúkati “oglašati se kot čuk””