Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gatati

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.

Traditionally linked to Proto-Indo-Iranian *gaHtʰás (“hymn”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *g⁽ʷ⁾eh₃- (“to call, to sing”) +‎ *-th₂ós, verbalized with native *-ati. Alternative interpretations suggest descent from *gʷet- (“to talk”)^[1] (whence Proto-Germanic *kweþaną (“to say”)).

*gatàti impf^[1]

1. to tell, to recite, to narrate (Northern Slavic)
2. to guess, to conjecture (South Slavic)

   Synonym: *gadati

3. (by extension) to tell fortunes (South Slavic)

   Synonyms: *perdъsъkazati, *vьračiti

• *gatanьje (“foretelling”), *gatanъka (“conundrum, riddle”)
• *gatъka (“riddle”)
  • *gatъkati (“to speak crypticly”)
• *gatva (“proverb, adage”)
• *gatačь, *gatalьcь (“guesser”)
• *gatьcь m, *gatьčьka f (“gossip (person)”)

• *ganati (“to utter, to talk”)
• *gadati (“to guess”)
• *gavъ (“caw, bark”), *gajь (“squeak”), *gakъ (“croak”) (onomatopoeiae from the same root)

• East Slavic:
  • ⇒ Middle Russian: гатити (gatiti, “to invigorate, to speak excitedly”) (causative)
  • Russian: гатать (gatatʹ, “to speak crypticly”) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: гатати (gatati)
    • → Old East Slavic: гатати (gatati, “to predict”)
  • Bulgarian: га́там (gátam, “to foretell”) (dialectal)
  • Macedonian: гата (gata)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: га́тати

    Latin script: gátati

  • Slovene: gátati (tonal orthography) (rare)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Polish: gatać

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “гатать”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1979), “*gatati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 6 (*e – *golva), Moscow: Nauka, page 105
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “гатам”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 232
• В. В. Мартынов (1981) “Балто-славяно-иранские языковые отношения и глоттогенез славян: bъrtviti – gatati 'неясно говорить, ворожить'.”, in Балто-славянские исследования. 1980., Moscow: Nauka, page 20