Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xopiti

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.

Probably of expressive origin, comparable with Proto-Slavic *xapati (“to bite”), Old Church Slavonic хѫпити (xǫpiti, “to snatch”). Compare further dial. Bulgarian хо́пам (hópam, “to skip, to frisk”), Polish chopnąć (“to clap, to push”) of onomatopoeic or interjectal origin.

Possibly inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ep- (“to grab, to have”), if presumably PIE *kH- could yield Proto-Slavic *x-. According to Uhlenbeck, may alternatively be a borrowing from Middle Low German happen (“to take a bite”); usually dismissed by other Slavists.

*xopiti pf

1. to grasp, to seize

   Synonym: *xvatati

2. (reflexive) (+ *sę) to undertake, to handle

   Synonym: *zaęti (sę)

• *vyxopiti
• *sъxopiti
• *uxopiti, *vъxopiti

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: хопити (xopiti)
    • Belarusian: хапі́ць (xapícʹ), хапі́цца (xapícca)
    • Russian: хопи́ть (xopítʹ), хопи́ться (xopítʹsja)
    • Ukrainian: хопи́ти (xopýty), хопи́тися (xopýtysja)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: chopiti sě
    • Czech: chopit (“to grasp, to comprehend”), chopit se
  • Old Polish: chopić
  • Slovak: chopiť
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: chopiś (“to begin”)
    • Upper Sorbian: khopić (“to initiate, to begin”)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “хопить”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*xopiti (sę)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 70
• хопити in Горох.ua (Етимологія)