Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gavęzь

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

*gavęzь

Altnernative reconstructions

• *gàvęzъ

Etymology

Literally, “ox's tongue”. Univerbation of Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cattle”) +‎ *ęzy (“tongue”) +‎ *-ь. In Slavic first term is attested in derivative *govędo (“cattle”). The plant's name refers to the shape of the leaves. Compare Serbo-Croatian во̏лови јѐзик／vȍlovi jèzik, Ukrainian воло́вий язи́к (volóvyj jazýk) from *volovъ < *volъ (“ox”).

Similar term exist in Ancient Greek βούγλωσσον (boúglōsson), which was calqued into Persian گاوزبان (gâv-zabân) and later into Arabic لِسَان الثَوْر (lisān aṯ-ṯawr).

Noun

*gàvęzь m

1. comfrey (any plant of the genus Symphytum officinale)

Declension

Declension of *gàvęzь (i-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*gàvęzь	*gàvęzi	*gàvęzьjē, *gàvęžē*
genitive	*gàvęzī	*gàvęzьju, *gàvęžu*	*gàvęzьjь, *gàvęzī*
dative	*gàvęzi	*gàvęzьma	*gàvęzьmъ
accusative	*gàvęzь	*gàvęzi	*gàvęzi
instrumental	*gàvęzьmь	*gàvęzьma	*gàvęzьmī
locative	*gàvęzī	*gàvęzьju, *gàvęžu*	*gàvęzьxъ
vocative	*gavęzi	*gàvęzi	*gàvęzьjē, *gàvęžē*

^* 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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: *гавѧзь (*gavęzĭ)
    • Old Ruthenian: гавѧзь (havjazʹ), гавѧзъ (havjaz)
      • Belarusian: гавэз (havez)
      • Ukrainian: га́в'язь (hávʺjazʹ), га́в’яз (gáv’jaz)
      • → Old Polish: hawiaź
    • Russian: гавязь (gavjazʹ), гавьяз (gavʹjaz), гавяз (gavjaz), гавяз (gavjaz), гавияс (gavijas), гавяс (gavjas), гобьяз (gobʹjaz) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: гаве́з (gavéz), гавъ́з (gavǎ́z), гавя́з (gavjáz)
  • Macedonian: гавез (gavez)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: га̏ве̄з

    Latin script: gȁvēz

  • Slovene: gȃvez
    • ⇒ Slovene: gȃbez, gȃvek
    • → Czech: havez (learned)
      • → Slovak: havez (learned)
• West Slavic:
  • ⇒ Polish: gawęda

Further reading

• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1995), “gavęzъ”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 7 (ga – gobьdzь), Wrocław: Ossolineum, →ISBN, page 71
• Bezlaj, France (1976) “gȃvez”, in Etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Slovenian Language] (in Slovene), volumes 1 (A – J), Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, page 141
• Machek, Václav (1968) “havez”, in Etymologický slovník jazyka českého [Etymological Dictionary of the Czech Language], 2nd edition, Prague: Academia, page 163
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “гавяз”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “га́в'яз”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Skok, Petar (1971) “gavēs”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 1 (A – J), Zagreb: JAZU, page 555