Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/vajati

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.

Possibly related via ablaut to Proto-Slavic *viti (“to turn, to curve”), *vojь (“turn, twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to twist, to weave”). Nearly exact match is Sanskrit वयति (vayati, “to spin, to weave”) from standard thematic Proto-Indo-European *wéh₁y-e-ti, however, this etymology is inconsistent with the o-grade of the Slavic verb.

Only the antiquity of South Slavic descendants is certain. On this account, Georgiev does not exclude borrowing from Oghur, from Proto-Turkic *ōy- (“to carve, to peck”) (whence Turkish oymak (“to cut”)).

*vajati impf

1. to sculpt, to mould

• *vajateľь (agent noun)

• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: ваꙗти (vajati)
    • → Old East Slavic: ваꙗти (vajati)
      • Old Ruthenian: ваꙗ́ти (vajáti)
      • Russian: вая́ть (vajátʹ)
  • Bulgarian: ва́я (vája), ва́ям (vájam)
  • Macedonian: ва́ја (vája)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ва́јати

    Latin script: vájati

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ваять”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “вая, ваям”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 124