Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/gavati

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

Etymology

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

*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

Conjugation of *gavati, *gava, *gavajetь (impf., -a-, s-aorist, accent paradigm ?)

Verbal noun	Infinitive	Supine	L-participle
*gavanьje	*gavati	*gavatъ	*gavalъ

	Participles
Tense	Past	Present
Passive	*gavanъ	*gavajemъ
Active	*gavavъ	*gavaję

	Aorist			Present
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*gavaxъ	*gava	*gava	*gavajǫ	*gavaješi	*gavajetь
Dual	*gavaxově	*gavasta	*gavaste	*gavajevě	*gavajeta	*gavajete
Plural	*gavaxomъ	*gavaste	*gavašę	*gavajemъ	*gavajete	*gavajǫtь
	Imperfect			Imperative
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*gavaaxъ	*gavaaše	*gavaaše	—	*gavaji	*gavaji
Dual	*gavaaxově	*gavaašeta	*gavaašete	*gavajivě	*gavajita	—
Plural	*gavaaxomъ	*gavaašete	*gavaaxǫ	*gavajimъ	*gavajite	—

Derived terms

• *gavъ (“bark, animal call”)
  • *gavъkati (“to bark”)
• *gavьra (“mockery, ridicule”)
  • *gavьriti (“to ridicule”)

Related terms

• *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

• 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”)
    • Czech: havat (dialectal)

Further reading

• 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