Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gvozdь

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.

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gwesd- (“dense, compact, clumped”). Possibly akin to o-stem Proto-Celtic *bozdos^[1] (whence Middle Irish bot (“tail, penis”), Welsh both (“hub, nave”)).

*gvȍzdь m^[2][3][4]

1. (originally) wooden peg

   Synonyms: *klinъ, *žerbьľь, *grezdьjь

2. nail, iron spike

• *gvozdьjь (thematized)
• *gvožďь (yo-stem, in Northern Slavic)
• *gvozdъ (o-stem, principally meaning “thicket”)

• *gvozditi (“to nail”)

• *gvozditi (“to stiffen”)
• *gvozdъ (“dense woodland, thicket”)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: гвоздь (gvozdĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: гвоздь (hvozdʹ), гвоздъ (hvozd)
      • Belarusian: гвозд (hvozd)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: гвузд (hvuzd)
      • Ukrainian: гвоздь (hvozdʹ) (rare), гвіздь (hvizdʹ) (dialectal)
    • Russian: гвоздь (gvozdʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: гвоздь (gvozdĭ)
  • Bulgarian: гво́зд (gvózd) (dialectal, o-stem)
    • ⇒ Bulgarian: гво́здей (gvózdej) (standard)
  • Macedonian: гос (gos) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian: (dialectal)

    Cyrillic script: гво̑зд (“iron spike”)

    Latin script: gvȏzd (“iron spike”)

• West Slavic:
  • Polish: gwóźdź
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: gózdź
    • Upper Sorbian: hózdź

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Albanian: gozhdë

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “гвоздь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1980), “*gvozdъ/*gvozdь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков (in Russian), numbers 7 (*golvačь – *gyžati), Moscow: Nauka, page 185
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “гвоздей”, in Български етимологичен речник (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 234