Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/jьskati

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.

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *iskāˀtei, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂i-sḱé-ti, from *h₂eys- (“to wish, desire, want”). Cognate with Lithuanian ieškóti (“to look for”) (1sg. i̇́eškau), Latvian iẽskât (“to search for lice”), Sanskrit इच्छति (iccháti, “to long for, wish, to seek”), Avestan 𐬌𐬯𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (isaⁱti, “to seek”), Latin aeruscō (“to beg, to ask for”), Old High German eiscōn (“to investigate, to demand”), Old English āscian (“to ask”) (whence English ask), Old Armenian այց (aycʻ, “visit; search”), հայց (haycʻ, “demand, request; seeking”).

*jьskati impf

1. to look for, to seek

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: искати (iskati)
    • Russian: иска́ть (iskátʹ)
    • Carpathian Rusyn: искати (yskaty), иськати (ysʹkaty), ськати (sʹkaty)
    • Ukrainian: иська́ти (ysʹkáty), ська́ти (sʹkáty)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: искати (iskati)

    Glagolitic:

  • Bulgarian: и́скам (ískam)
  • Macedonian: иска (iska) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ѝскати, и́скати

    Latin: ìskati, ískati

  • Slovene: ískati, iskáti (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: jískati
    • Czech: vískat, (dialectal) ískať
  • Kashubian: wiskac
  • Polish: iskać
  • Slovak: ískať
  • Slovincian: wjiskac

• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1999) “иска́ть”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 357
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “иска́ть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*jьskati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 238