Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/tъrgati

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.

The exact etymology is unclear. The dominant standpoints are:

• Per Derksen, possibly cognate with Latin tergō (“to wipe”), with semantic distortion by influence of *dьrgati (“to tear”).
• Per Vasmer, connected with Sanskrit स्तृहति (stṛháti, “to crush”), तृणेढि (tṛṇéḍhi, “shattered, broken”), perfect ततर्ह (tatarha), perf. pass. part. तृढ (tṛḍhá). Doubtfully connected with Latin trahō (“to drag”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌺𐍉 (þairkō, “hole”).
• Per Chernykh, from Proto-Indo-European *tergʰ-, extended version of *ter- (“to rub”), cognate with Proto-Slavic *terti, Latin terō.

Over time, the term has undergone a semantic drift in certain thematic environments, giving rise to figurative terms such as Russian трогать (trogatʹ, “to affect, to arouse emotionally”) and Bulgarian тръгвам (trǎgvam), Macedonian тргне (trgne, “to depart”). The later semantic development is analogous with Italian partire (“to go away”), French partir (“to depart”) which descend from Latin partīre (“to separate”).

*tъrgati

1. to tear
2. to rip, to extort

• *tьrzati (“to tear, to pull”)
• *tьrgnǫti (“to pull, to tear out”)

• *jьztъrgati (“to extort”) < *jьz + *tъrgati
• *orztъrgati (“to cancel”) < *orz + *tъrgati
• *potъrgati (“to tremor”) < *po + *tъrgati

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: търгати (tŭrgati)
    • ⇒ Russian: отторга́ть (ottorgátʹ), расторга́ть (rastorgátʹ)
    • Ukrainian: то́ргати (tórhaty, “to tear, to pull”)
• South Slavic:
  • ⇒ Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: тръгнѫти (trŭgnǫti)

    Glagolitic script: ⱅⱃⱏⰳⱀⱘⱅⰻ (trŭgnǫti)

  • Bulgarian: тъ́ргам (tǎ́rgam, “to tear, to pull”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: тр̏гати

    Latin script: tȑgati

  • Slovene: tŕgati (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: trhati
    • Czech: trhat
  • Polish: targać
  • Slovak: trhať
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: torhać
    • Lower Sorbian: tergać

• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “терза́ть”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 238
• Derksen, Rick (2008) “*tъrgati”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 502
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “торга́ть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress