Reconstruction talk:Proto-Slavic/jěbati

vulgar usage

The meaning of the word is vulgar in all Slavic languages, so it's not "to copulate" but "to fuck". --Anatoli ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 02:44, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

That's the modern meaning that co-exists with scientific terms such as copulate but all of which are of later origin. For Proto-Slavic there was only one verb with that meaning, which indicates that it was unmarked, i.e. not vulgar. --Ivan Štambuk (talk) 03:32, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

That's a late reply, LOL. I understand what you mean but the Germanic verb "to fuck" (*fucken) had a non-vulgar meaning in the past. It doesn't have to be marked as "vulgar" but *jebati="to fuck", IMO. --Anatoli ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 03:38, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

During the Soviet times when all swearwords were a taboo, the article on the Russian еба́ть (jebátʹ) and other vulgarities were removed from Vasmer dictionary. Can we assume that Old Russian was ѣбати (ěbati), though? BTW, the transliteration should have a /j/ - jěbati. There's also a shortened form - еть (jetʹ) (somewhat dated, rustic or regional). Should it belong here as well? This form is only used in the infinitive. --Anatoli ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 03:53, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Old Russian was ебати (ebati). The only verbs that started with ѣ were ѣсти (ěsti) and ѣхати, ѣздити, ѣзжати (ěxati, ězditi, ězžati). As for vulgarity, I'm not going to claim that I know how this verb was used in PS times, but I think it is entirely possible that the only verb with this meaning could have been vulgar. After all, the subject itself was probably vulgar and I doubt they had scientific reasons to talk about it. --WikiTiki89 13:31, 9 July 2014 (UTC)