Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kъrtiti

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.

• *kъrtěti

Normally reconstructed as a denominal verb of *(s)ker- (“to cut”) +‎ *-tós (per Trubachyov). Given that the same root also produced palatalized 0-grade lemmas in Balto-Slavic, e.g. *čьrtati (“to draw”), it is likely that the plain velar forms were influenced by *kʷer- (“to make, to build”). Cognates in Balto-Slavic include Lithuanian kùrti (“to build”), Latvian kurt (“to excite”). Outside of Balto-Slavic, the root is related to Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), Latin curtus (“shortened”) as a descendant of *(s)ker- and to Proto-Indo-Iranian *kr̥tás (“made”), Proto-Celtic *kʷritus (“form”) as a descendant of *kʷer-.

*kъrtiti impf

1. to peck
2. to thrash

• *čersti (“to carve, slash”)
• *čьrtati (“to draw”)
• *čьrta (“dash”)
• *kortъ (“once, time”)
• *kortъkъ (“short”)

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: карціць (karcicʹ, “to yearn for”)
  • Russian: кортеть (kortetʹ, “to yearn for”) (dialectal)
  • Ukrainian: кортіти (kortity, “to yearn for”)
    • → Polish: korcić
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: къртити (kŭrtiti)

  • Bulgarian: къ́ртя (kǎ́rtja)
  • Macedonian: крти (krti)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: кртити (“to agonize”)

    Latin script: krtiti

• West Slavic:
  • Polish: karcić
  • Upper Sorbian: korćić

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “кортеть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kъrtiti”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 241