Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kuga

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

Per Trubachev, of onomatopoeic origin, probably from a semantic kernel like *kujati (“to caw, to cry”) +‎ *-ga. Analogical to Proto-Germanic *kuhōną (“to cough, to gasp”).

Per Snoj, a borrowing from Old High German koge (“infection”) (specifically Bawarian dialects) is suggested, however, that lemma is too young to have been reflected with *-u- in Slavic (compare Serbo-Croatian кугла (“ball”) < German Kugel : Serbo-Croatian корпа (“box, basket”) < German Korb). Rejected by Trubachev.

Noun

*kùga f

1. plague, epidemic

   Synonyms: *čuma, *prokaza

Declension

Declension of *kuga (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kuga	*kùdzě	*kùgy
genitive	*kùgy	*kùgu	*kùgъ
dative	*kùdzě	*kùgama	*kùgamъ
accusative	*kùgǫ	*kùdzě	*kùgy
instrumental	*kùgojǫ, *kùgǭ**	*kùgama	*kùgamī
locative	*kùdzě	*kùgu	*kùgasъ, *kùgaxъ*
vocative	*kùgo	*kùdzě	*kùgy

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** 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).

Related terms

• *kujati (“to caw”)
• *kukati (“to cuckoo”)

Derived terms

• *kugykati (“to cough severely, to cry”)
• *kužiti (“to get infected”)
  • *kužьba (“contagion”)
• *kugačь (“owl”) (regional, East Slavic)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ку́га (kúga)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ку̏га

    Latin script: kȕga

  • Slovene: kúga

    ⇒ Slovene: kužba (“contagion”)

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kuga?/*kugakati/*kugykati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 85
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “куга”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 74
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “kúga”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si