Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kľuti

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.

An archaic proto-form of *kolti (“to stab”) +‎ *-uti, reflecting Proto-Balto-Slavic *kljautei, from Proto-Indo-European *klewh₂-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat, to stab”). Survives only in Bulgarian and Macedonian. Other languages reflect the doublet *kľьvati, with an identical meaning. Cognate with Lithuanian kliū́ti (“to cleave”) and Latvian kļūt (“to become”).

The surviving descendants exhibit depalatalized root vowel, however, the original was most likely with a soft root vowel, i.e. *kľuti.

*kľuti impf (perfective *kľunǫti)^[1]

1. to peck, to prickle
2. to bite

• *kľьvati^[2][3]
• *kľuvati (inflects in the same way as *kľьvati)

Depalatalized variant, reflected in Bulgarian and Macedonian:

Later reanalyzed inflection:

• *kolti (“to stab, to slaugther”)
• *koltiti (“to shake”)
• *klęti (“to curse”)
• *kolъ (“stake”)
• *kъlъ, *kъlykъ (“fang, tusk”)

From *kluti:

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: кълва́ (kǎlvá)
  • Macedonian: колва (kolva)

From *kľьvati:

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: клева́ть (klevátʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: кльвати (klĭvati)
    • Bulgarian: клю́вам (kljúvam) (dialectal)
  • Slovene: kljeváti (archaic)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: klvati (“to peck”)
    • Czech: klvati (obsolete), klíti (obsolete), klovat (“to peck”), klobat (uncommon), klubat se (“to hatch”)^[4][5]
  • Polish: klwać (dialectal)

From *kľuvati:

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: клюва́ць (kljuvácʹ)
  • Ukrainian: клюва́ти (kljuváty)
• South Slavic:
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: кљу̏вати

    Latin script: kljȕvati

  • Slovene: kljuváti (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Polish: kłuć (only the infinitive reflects *kluti, inflects as *kľuvati); Polish: kluć
  • Slovak: kľuvať
  • Sorbian:

    Upper Sorbian: kluwać

    Lower Sorbian: kluwaś

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “клевать”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1983), “*klьvati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 10 (*klepačь – *konь), Moscow: Nauka, page 82
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “кълва”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 189