Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ryba

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.

Uncertain.

The central Indo-European word for "fish" *dʰǵʰu- (“fish”) (yielding Ancient Greek ἰχθύς (ikhthús), Lithuanian žuvìs, Old Armenian ձուկն (jukn)) would have given Proto-Slavic v-stem **zy (genitive **zъve, accusative **zъvь), and was, as the theory goes, avoided by fishermen due to taboo, or because it would have sounded too similar to the verb *zъvati (“to call”).

Some of the proposed etymologies include:

• Toporov: From Early Proto-Slavic *rų̄bā, which is then comparable to *rębъ (“speckled, motley, variegated”), with fish scales being the semantic connection. For a similar development compare *pьstry (“salmonid fish”), originally "the colorful/variegated one" < *pьstrъ (“variegated”).
• Loewenthal: From earlier *rų̄bā, but instead from Proto-Indo-European *wremb- (“to twist around”), akin to Proto-Germanic *wrimpaną (“to wince”), Ancient Greek ῥέμβω (rhémbō, “to roam, to turn in circles”). Doubted by Vasmer.
• Vaillant: Perhaps originally a collection/action noun from *ryti (“to dig, to snout”) +‎ *-ba, initially referring to the process “fishing” and later (by abstraction) to the yield “fish”.
• Mladenov: Akin to Proto-Slavic *ruxъ (“movement, deformation”), *ryxlъ (“swift, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew- (“to hurry”).
• Jakobson, Schmalstieg, Snoj: From Proto-Balto-Slavic *jūˀr- (“water, swamp, pond”), whence Lithuanian jū́ra (“sea”), Latvian jūra (“sea”) and perhaps akin to Proto-Slavic *juriti (“to charge, to plunge”), *jurъkъ (“whisk, agile”), with a rare metathesis *ūr- > *rū- + the suffix *-ba for forming abstract nouns.

Early scholars (Uhlenbeck, Berneker, Mikkola, Walde-Hofmann) had tentatively compared the Slavic word with Old High German rūppa (“caterpillar”) or Latin rubēta (“bramble toad”), which nowadays are commonly viewed as unrelated.

*rỳba f^[1][2]

1. fish

• *rybica, *rybъka, *rybokъ (diminutive)
• *rybařь (“fisherman”)
• *rybakъ (“fisher”)
• *rybьnъ, *rybavъ, *ryběstъ (relative adjectives)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: рꙑба (ryba), риба (riba)
    • Old Ruthenian: рыба (ryba), риба (riba)
      • Belarusian: ры́ба (rýba)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: ры́ба (rŷ́ba)
      • Ukrainian: ри́ба (rýba)
    • Russian: ры́ба (rýba)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: рꙑба (ryba)

    Glagolitic script: ⱃⱏⰺⰱⰰ (ryba)

  • Bulgarian: ри́ба (ríba)
  • Macedonian: ри́ба (ríba)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ри̏ба

    Latin script: rȉba

  • Slovene: ríba (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: ryba
    • Czech: ryba
  • Old Polish: ryba
    • Polish: ryba
    • Silesian: ryba
  • Old Slovak: ryba
    • Pannonian Rusyn: риба (riba)
    • Slovak: ryba
  • Polabian: råibo
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: rëba
    • Slovincian: rëba
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: ryba
    • Lower Sorbian: ryba

• Gluhak, Alemko (1993) “Proto-Slavic/ryba”, in Hrvatski etimološki rječnik [Croatian Etymology Dictionary] (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: August Cesarec, →ISBN, page 526
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “рыба”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (2002), “риба¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 6 (пỳскам – словàр²), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 243
• “jūra”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012