Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kury

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

From *kùrъ (“cock, rooster”) +‎ *-y. Originally meant “hen”, for semantic development compare French cocotte, poule. Most likely false cognate of Latin cārus (“beloved”), Latvian kārs (“craving, covetous”) and English whore (from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros).

Noun

*kùry f

1. (originally) Synonym of *kùra (“hen”)
2. harlot, strumpet

Declension

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kùry	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi
genitive	*kùrъve	*kùrъvu	*kùrъvъ
dative	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvьma, *kùrъvama*	*kùrъvьmъ, *kùrъvamъ*
accusative	*kùrъvь	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi
instrumental	*kùrъvьjǫ, *kùrъvľǭ**	*kùrъvьma, *kùrъvama*	*kùrъvьmī, *kùrъvamī*
locative	*kùrъve	*kùrъvu	*kùrъvьxъ, *kùrъvaxъ*
vocative	*kùry	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi

^* -ьmъ/etc. are the original consonant-stem endings, while -amъ/etc. are later Common Slavic endings formed by analogy with a-stems.
^** 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: курꙑ (kury), куръва (kurŭva)
    • Old Ruthenian: ку́рва (kúrva)
      • Belarusian: ку́рва (kúrva)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: ку́рва (kúrva)
      • Ukrainian: ку́рва (kúrva)
    • Russian: ку́рва (kúrva) (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Novgorodian: куръва (kurŭva)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ку́рва (kúrva)
  • Macedonian: курва (kurva)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ку̑рва, (regional) ку̑рба

    Latin script: kȗrva, (regional) kȗrba

    • → Balkan Romani: kùrva
    • → Vlax Romani: kùrva
  • Slovene: kȗrba, kȗrva (dialectal)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: kurva
    • Czech: kurva
  • Old Polish: kurwa
    • Polish: kurwa, kurew (archaic, dialectal), k*rwa, k**wa, k***a (censored)
      • → Yiddish: קורווע (kurve)
    • Silesian: kurwa
  • Old Slovak: kurva
    • Slovak: kurva
    • Pannonian Rusyn: курва (kurva)
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: kùrwa
    • Slovincian: kùrwa
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: kurwa
    • Upper Sorbian: kurwa

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Aromanian: curvã
  • → Albanian: kurvë
  • → Hungarian: kurva
  • → Lithuanian: kùrva
  • → Romanian: curvă

Further reading

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “kurwa”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 276
• Sławski, Franciszek (1966-1969) “kurwa”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volumes III: Kotar—Kysz, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, page 416
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “ку́рва”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “ку́рва”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka
• Králik, Ľubor (2016) “kurva”, in Stručný etymologický slovník slovenčiny [Concise Etymological Dictionary of Slovak] (in Slovak), Bratislava: VEDA; JÚĽŠ SAV, →ISBN, page 309
• Jiří Rejzek (2007) “kurva”, in Český etymologický slovník (in Czech), Leda, page 336