Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/korva

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.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *kárˀwāˀ, irregular centum reflex of Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂-weh₂, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”).

Matasović (2008) argues that it was borrowed from Celtic in prehistorical times due to the impossibility of deriving it by regular sound laws:

• PIE *ḱerh₂weh₂ > Proto-Celtic *kerawā > *karawā (Joseph's rule) > Early Proto-Slavic *karwā > Common Slavic *kőrva.

Alternatively, Matasović's Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (2009) lists the Old Church Slavonic form krava “cow” as being related to the Proto-Celtic *karwo- (“deer”), ultimately coming from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (the first element of *ḱerh₂weh₂).

Baltic cognates (either similarly irregularly inherited via Balto-Slavic, or borrowed from Celtic or Slavic) include Lithuanian kárvė (“cow”) and Old Prussian curwis (“ox”). For further Indo-European cognates see *ḱerh₂-.

Noun

*kòrva f

1. cow

Inflection

Declension of *kòrva (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kòrva	*kòrvě	*kòrvy
genitive	*kòrvy	*kòrvu	*kòrvъ
dative	*kòrvě	*kòrvama	*kòrvamъ
accusative	*kòrvǫ	*kòrvě	*kòrvy
instrumental	*kòrvojǫ, *kòrvǭ**	*kòrvama	*kòrvamī
locative	*kòrvě	*kòrvu	*kòrvasъ, *kòrvaxъ*
vocative	*kòrvo	*kòrvě	*kòrvy

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Derived terms

• *korvařь
• *korvica
• *korvina
• *korvъka
• *korvьjь
• *korvьna / *korvьnъ
• *korvьskъ
• *korvajь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: корова (korova)
    • Belarusian: каро́ва (karóva)
    • Russian: коро́ва (koróva)
    • Carpathian Rusyn: коро́ва (koróva)
    • Ukrainian: коро́ва (koróva)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: кра́ва (kráva)
  • Macedonian: кра́ва (kráva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: крȁва

    Latin: krȁva

    • Kajkavian (Bednja): krȍvo
    • Slavomolisano: krava
  • Slovene: kráva (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: kráva
    • Czech: kráva
  • Polabian: korvo
  • Polish: krowa
  • Slovak: krava
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: karwa
    • Slovincian: krôwa
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: kruwa
    • Lower Sorbian: krowa

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “корова”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Ranko Matasović (2008), Poredbenopovijesna gramatika hrvatskog jezika, Matica hrvatska: Zagreb, page 53f
• Ranko Matasović, (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 192.
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1984), “*korva”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 11 (*konьcь – *kotьna(ja)), Moscow: Nauka, page 106