Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/katerica
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
Dialectal synonym of *věverica (“squirrel”), likely introduced to distinguish it from the European ground squirrel (in Slavic *sъsьlъ / *sysьlъ / *sujakъ). Formed as *kateriti (“to climb, to mount”) + *-ica, probably ultimately descending from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ket- (“to gush, to leap, to move around”), whence come Latin scatebra (“gush of water”) and Old Armenian շիթ (šitʻ, “jet, stream”).
Noun
*katerica f
Declension
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *katerica | *katerici | *katericę̇ |
| genitive | *katericę̇ | *katericu | *katericь |
| dative | *katerici | *katericama | *katericamъ |
| accusative | *katericǫ | *katerici | *katericę̇ |
| instrumental | *katericejǫ, *katericǫ** | *katericama | *katericami |
| locative | *katerici | *katericu | *katericasъ, *katericaxъ* |
| vocative | *katerice | *katerici | *katericę̇ |
* -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).
Related terms
- *kotiti (“to trundle”)
- *katati (“to roll, to tumble”)
Descendants
- South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: ка́терица (káterica)
Further reading
- Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1979), “катерица”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 2 (и – крепя̀), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 271