From Gaulish *deruētā, from Proto-Celtic *derweitā, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear apart”). Compare Lithuanian dedervinė (“rash, eruption”), Polish odra (“measles”) and Latin derbiōsus (“scabby”).
The Latin word is attested in late glosses. Its descendants in Romance languages point to a pronunciation , with stress on the first syllable; the use of the letter i in the second syllable to represent the vowel would be consistent with Late Latin/early Romance sound changes. The replacement of /rw/ with /rb/ was not a regular sound change, but there are a few parallel cases such as corvus (“raven”) > Occitan còrb.
derbita f (genitive derbitae); first declension
First-declension noun.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | derbita | derbitae |
| genitive | derbitae | derbitārum |
| dative | derbitae | derbitīs |
| accusative | derbitam | derbitās |
| ablative | derbitā | derbitīs |
| vocative | derbita | derbitae |