Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kalъ

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

Unknown. No reliable non-Slavic cognates have been identified to date (including in Baltic languages, which is surprising considering some archaic features of the word).

Semantically close Ancient Greek πηλός (pēlós, “clay, mud, bog”) (also Doric πᾱλός (pālós), which could indicate possible derivation from *kʷālos) is unexplained as well, since derivation from a common IE **kʷeh₂los is prevented by accentuation (Hirt's law). Beekes suspected it to be a Pre-Greek (non-IE substrate) borrowing.

Something similar is Latin squālus (“dirty, unkempt”): there's no etymology, sematics seems to be close and according to de Vaan, sequence "squ-" indicates it isn't an inherited word. However, the root may be derived to squālor (“filth, roughness of the surface”) and squāma (“scale”) even though those lack an etymology as well.

Sanskrit काल (kāla, “black, very dark blue”) is either a Dravidian borrowing or a late development, thus unrelated.

Noun

*kȃlъ m

1. dirt

Declension

Declension of *kȃlъ (hard o-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kȃlъ	*kȃla	*kȃli
genitive	*kȃla	*kalù	*kãlъ
dative	*kȃlu	*kalomà	*kalòmъ
accusative	*kȃlъ	*kȃla	*kȃly
instrumental	*kȃlъmь, *kȃlomь*	*kalomà	*kalý
locative	*kȃlě	*kalù	*kalě̃xъ
vocative	*kale	*kȃla	*kȃli

^* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

• *kaliti
• *kalina

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: кал (kal)
  • Ukrainian: кал (kal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: калъ (kalŭ)

    Glagolitic: [Term?]

  • Bulgarian: кал (kal)
  • Macedonian: кал (kal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ка̑л

    Latin script: kȃl

  • Slovene: kȃl
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: kal
  • Kashubian: kôł
  • Polish: kał
  • Slovak: kal

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1983), “*kalъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 9 (*jьz – *klenьje), Moscow: Nauka, page 128
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “кал”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress