Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/rarogъ

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 believed to be from *rarъ (“noise”) or *rarati (“to make noise”) + *-ogъ. If not, from *rajati (“to make noise”) + *-ogъ. The name refers to the sounds the bird makes. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rā-, compare Lithuanian rojóti (“to crow”), Proto-Germanic *rairāną (“to roar”).

Since of limited geography of the word (near-Carpathian), it might be post-Proto-Slavic borrowing from Old Hungarian, compare Hungarian rá- (“on, onto”), ráró (“saker”), rárohan (“to attack from air”).^[1]

Since some descendants (Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian (from Polish)), or their derivatives, mean “devil”, “demon”, “gnome” etc., some scholars tried to connect the word with *Sъvarogъ (“Svarog (Slavic god of fire)”), with *rarogъ being Svarog's bird demonized durning Christianization. However, both words have different etymologies, and the oldest attestations of these words (Old Czech, Old Polish, Old Ruthenian) mean only “saker”.

*rarogъ m^[2]

1. saker (any bird of the species Falco cherrug)

• South Slavic:
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: раров (“species of eagle”) (dialectal)

    Latin script: rarov (“species of eagle”) (dialectal)

  • >? Serbo-Croatian: ràrog (“lobster”) (Croatia)
    • Chakavian Serbo-Croatian: rȁrog, rarȍg (“lobster”)
      • → Slovene: rárog (“lobster”)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: raroh
    • Czech: raroh
  • Kashubian: raróg
  • Old Polish: raróg
    • Polish: raróg; reróg (dialectal)
      • → Old Lithuanian: raragas
    • →? Old Ruthenian: рарогъ (raroh)
      • Belarusian: рарог (raróh)
      • Ukrainian: ра́ріг (rárih), ра́рог (rároh), рарія f (rarija) (dialectal)
        • → Polish: rarîg
  • Old Slovak: rároh, ⇒ rároha f
    • Slovak: rároh
    • ⇒ Slovak: rárašek, járog, rárožica
  • Sorbian:
    • >? Upper Sorbian: rаrоh

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “raróg”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 510
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (2006), “ра́ріг”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), volume 5 (Р – Т), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, →ISBN, page 28
• Tsykhun, G. A., editor (2006), “рарог”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), volumes 11 (раб – сая́н), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka, →ISBN, page 106
• Machek, Václav (1968) “raroh”, in Etymologický slovník jazyka českého [Etymological Dictionary of the Czech Language], 2nd edition, Prague: Academia, page 508
• Rejzek, Jiří (2001) “raroh”, in Český etymologický slovník [Czech Etymological Dictionary] (in Czech), 1st edition, Voznice: LEDA, →ISBN, page 554
• Smoczyński, Wojciech (2007) “rojóti”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka litewskiego‎ (in Polish), Vilnius: Uniwersytet Wileński, page 1036
• Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “raróg”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, page 454
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “rȃrog”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si