Reconstruction:Proto-Balto-Slavic/źirˀgás

This Proto-Balto-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-Balto-Slavic

Etymology

Unknown. No etymological connections beyond Baltic are generally accepted, though there are several proposals. One connects Latvian zirgs to the adjective žirgts (“brisk, lively, alert”) (q.v.) from the (no longer in usage) verb žirgt (“to liven up, to freshen up”). The original meaning would therefore have been “brisk, agile (animal),” from which “fast runner” and then “horse” (probably via “stallion,” a meaning still attested dialectally for the Lithuanian cognate). Others link zirgs to Latin grex (“herd, flock”), or to Lithuanian žir̃gti, žer̃gti (“to sit astraddle, to sit; to spread one's legs; to walk with one's legs raised high”), or perhaps to Lithuanian žer̃ti (“to scrape, to scratch; (of horse) to paw”), Armenian ձար (jar, “mane”), or to Old Norse graðr (“not castrated”).

Noun

*źirˀgás m

1. horse

Inflection

Declension of *źirˀgás (o-stem, mobile accent)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*źirˀgás	*źírˀgōˀ	*źirˀgái(ˀ)
Accusative	*źírˀgan	*źírˀgōˀ	*źírˀgō(ˀ)ns
Genitive	*źírˀgā	*źirˀgā́u(ˀ)	*źirˀgṓn
Locative	*źírˀgai	*źirˀgā́u(ˀ)	*źirˀgáišu
Dative	*źírˀgōi	*źirˀgámā(ˀ)	*źirˀgámas
Instrumental	*źírˀgōˀ	*źirˀgámāˀ	*źirˀgṓis
Vocative	*źírˀge	*źírˀgōˀ	*źirˀgái(ˀ)

Descendants

• East Baltic:
  • Latgalian: zyrgs
  • Latvian: zîrgs
  • Lithuanian: žìrgas
  • Samogitian: žėrgs
• West Baltic:
  • Old Prussian: sirgis
  • Sudovian: zirgo
• →? Proto-Finnic: *härkä (see there for further descendants)