Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gavati

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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

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Etymology

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Onomatopoeic, from the call ga! +‎ *-vati. Parallel to Proto-Slavic *gajati (to caw), Proto-Slavic *gakati (to croak, to shout). The colloquial word for “crow” in some regions of Russia and Ukraine is from the same stem: Russian га́вка (gávka), Ukrainian га́ва (háva).

Compare English caw, Lithuanian kóvas (rook).

Verb

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*gavati impf (perfective *gavnǫti)

  1. to make (some sort of) harsh noise
    → to bark, to snarl (for mammals, typically dogs)
    → to caw (for birds, typically corvids)
    → to clack (for inanimate objects)
    (figurative) to groan, to grumble (for person)
  2. (figurative) (+ *sę) to wrangle, to quarrel, to bicker (usually with *sъ(n) + gen.)

Inflection

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Derived terms

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  • *gajati (to caw, to croak)
  • *gakati (to croak, to shout)
  • *gaga (sea-duck) (regional)
  • *gava, *gavъka (crow) (Eastern Slavic)
  • *gaviti (to vex, to cause retching) (possibly)
    • *gavědь (wild stock, beast) (possibly)

Descendants

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  • South Slavic:
    • Bulgarian: га́вам (gávam, to bamboozle) (dialectal)
    • Macedonian: гава (gava, to make fool of, to bamboozle) (dialectal)
  • West Slavic:
    • Old Czech: havati (to grumble)

Further reading

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  • Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1979), “*gavati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 6 (*e – *golva), Moscow: Nauka, page 110
  • Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “гавам, гаввам, гавна”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 220