Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/věverica
Proto-Slavic
Alternative forms
Etymology
From earlier *vě̀verь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *wēweris, cognate to Lithuanian voverė, voveri̇̀s, vėveri̇̀s (“squirrel”), Latvian vāvere (“squirrel”), Old Prussian weware (“squirrel”), Persian وروره (varvarah) Welsh gwiwer, Latin vīverra, from Proto-Indo-European *we-wer- (“squirrel, marten”), a reduplicated form of the root *wer- (“to wrap, to turn”) (with secondary meaning “to brew, to boil”). The name has been derived because of the typical agile locomotion of squirrels, compare Polish wiercipięta (“squirrel, fidget”), from Proto-Slavic *vьrtě̀ti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *wirtḗˀtei, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥t-éh₁-ti, from *wert-, from the same root *wer- (“to wrap, to turn”).
Noun
Inflection
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *vě̀verica | *vě̀verici | *vě̀vericę̇ |
| genitive | *vě̀vericę̇ | *vě̀vericu | *vě̀vericь |
| dative | *vě̀vericī | *vě̀vericama | *vě̀vericāmъ |
| accusative | *vě̀vericǫ | *vě̀verici | *vě̀vericę̇ |
| instrumental | *vě̀vericējǫ, *vě̀vericǭ* | *vě̀vericama | *vě̀vericāmī |
| locative | *vě̀vericī | *vě̀vericu | *vě̀vericāsъ |
| vocative | *vě̀verice | *vě̀verici | *vě̀vericę̇ |
* 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
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: вѣ́верица (vě́verica)
- Old Ruthenian: вѣ́верица (vě́verica), вѣ́верицꙗ (vě́vericja) — Middle Ukrainian
- Belarusian: веве́рыцы (vjevjérycy) (dialectal)
- Ukrainian: ве́вериця (véverycja), ви́верица (výveryca), ви́вірица (výviryca) (dialectal)
- Russian: ве́верица (véverica)
- Old Ruthenian: вѣ́верица (vě́verica), вѣ́верицꙗ (vě́vericja) — Middle Ukrainian
- Old Novgorodian: вѣверица (věverića), вьверица (vĭverića), вьвьрича (vĭvĭrića)
- Old East Slavic: вѣ́верица (vě́verica)
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
- Old Czech: veveřicě
- Czech: veveřice
- Old Polish: wiewierzyca
- Slovak: veverica
- Sorbian:
- Upper Sorbian: wjewjerca, wjewjerčka
- Lower Sorbian: njewjerica, njewjericka
- Old Czech: veveřicě
- Non-Slavic:
- → Greek: βερβερίτσα (ververítsa)
- → Romanian: veveriță
Further reading
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “веверица”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “белка”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Chernykh, P. Ja. (1999) “белка”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 82
- Sreznevsky, Izmail I. (1893) “вѣверица”, in Матеріалы для Словаря древне-русскаго языка по письменнымъ памятникамъ [Materials for the Dictionary of the Old East Slavic Language Based on Written Monuments][3] (in Russian), volume 1 (А – К), Saint Petersburg: Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, column 477
- Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “вѐверица, вѐрверица”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 125
- Tkačenko O. B. (1981) “Проблемы сопоставительно-исторического изучения славянских языков”, in Вопросы языкознания, volume 1, Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, page 55
References
- ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “?věverica”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a egern (MP 21)”
- ^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “vẹ́verica”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary][2], 3rd edition, Ljubljana: Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, →ISBN, page 840: “*vě̋verica”