gobti

Cognate with Latvian gãbtiês (“snatch, grab”). There has been a lot of cross-contamination between phonetically and semantically similar terms, cf. gaũbti (“cover”), glóbti (“embrace”) and gróbti (“grab”), the latter of which is most likely the origin of the acute accentuation in this lemma. The original circumflex can be found in gãbana (“armful”), gabénti (“carry, transport”). This makes projecting a Proto-Balto-Slavic pre-form problematic.

If connected with Latin habeō (“have”), Old Irish gaibid (“take, seize”) then we may suggest a Proto-Indo-European root *gʰeh₁bʰ-. However, in view of the Lithuanian accentuation and Sanskrit गभस्ति (gábhasti-, “hand”), Rick Derksen suggests *gʰabʰ-, with Proto-Indo-European *a. Also compare Proto-Slavic *gabati (“seize”) and *xāpàti (“seize”), which also show unusual phonetic variation.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡoːpʲtʲɪ/

góbti (third-person present tense góbia, third-person past tense góbė)

1. cover (up), wrap (up), shroud

   Synonyms: gaubti, siausti, supti

   Senõsios móters gálvą góbia baltà skarẽlė. ― The woman's head was wrapped in a white headscarf.

2. snatch, grab, take

   Synonyms: glemžti, grobti