Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/klepati

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.

Usually viewed as expressive or onomatopoeic in nature. Analogous forms found also in Lithuanian klepsė́ti (“to slam”), kleptóti (“to munch noisily”); Proto-Germanic *klappōną (“to clap”). Vasmer further compares Latin crepō (“to creak”).

See also Proto-Indo-European *klep- (“to steal”).

*klepàti impf (perfective *klepnǫti)^[1][2]

1. to knock, to clap

   → to rivet (metals), to hew

   → to wink, to blink

   → to shut/open a valve

2. to lure, to hint, to trap
3. to stain, to spatter

• *klepiti
• *klopiti
• *klapati, *klapa (probably)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: клепати (klepati, “to accuse”)
    • Belarusian: клепа́ць (kljepácʹ)
    • Russian: клепа́ть (klepátʹ)
    • Ukrainian: клепа́ти (klepáty)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: клепати (klepati, “to allude”)
  • Bulgarian: кле́пя (klépja), кле́пам (klépam)

    ⇒ Romanian: clipi (“to blink”)

  • Macedonian: клепа (klepa)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: клѐпати

    Latin script: klèpati

  • Slovene: klepáti (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: klepat
  • Polish: klepać
  • Old Slovak:
    • Pannonian Rusyn: клєпац (kljepac)
    • Slovak: klepať
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: klepaś
    • Upper Sorbian: klepać

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “клепать”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1983), “*klepati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков (in Russian), numbers 10 (*klepačь – *konь), Moscow: Nauka, page 07
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1979), “клепя¹, -еш”, in Български етимологичен речник (in Bulgarian), volume 2 (и – крепя̀), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 437