Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/greti

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 earlier *grebtì, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *grebtei, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ-. Cognate with Lithuanian grė́bti (“to seize, to rob, to rake”), Latvian grebt (“to seize, to scrape, to excavate”), Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “to seize, to hold, to take”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (graban, “to dig”), English grab. Per Derksen, the acute vowel of Lithuanian grė́bti is analogical after gróbti (“to seize”).

Note the development of the infinitive: *grebtì > *gretì (by regular sound change) > *grestì (by analogy with other consonant-stem verbs, most of which have infinitives in -*sti or -*zti) > *grebstì (by analogy with the stem *greb-, only in some languages).

Verb

*gretì impf

1. to dig, to scrape
2. to rake

Inflection

Conjugation of *greti, *grebe, *grebetь (impf., -C-, _/ox-aorist, accent paradigm c)

Verbal noun	Infinitive	Supine	L-participle
*grebenьje	*greti	*gretъ	*greblъ

	Participles
Tense	Past	Present
Passive	*grebenъ	*grebomъ
Active	*grebъ	*greby

	Aorist			Present
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*greb(ox)ъ	*grebe	*grebe	*grebǫ	*grebeši	*grebetь
Dual	*greb(ox)ově	*greb(e/os)ta	*greb(e/os)te	*grebevě	*grebeta	*grebete
Plural	*greb(ox)omъ	*greb(e/os)te	*grebǫ, *grebošę	*grebemъ	*grebete	*grebǫtь
	Imperfect			Imperative
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*greběaxъ	*greběaše	*greběaše	—	*grebi	*grebi
Dual	*greběaxově	*greběašeta	*greběašete	*greběvě	*greběta	—
Plural	*greběaxomъ	*greběašete	*greběaxǫ	*greběmъ	*greběte	—

Derived terms

• *grebenь (“comb”)
• *gribati (“to dig, to scrape?”) (iterative)
• *grabiti (“to grab, to seize”)
• *grobъ (“grave”)
• *grěblo, *grabľa (“rake”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: грети (greti), грести (gresti) (both attested only from the 14th century)
    • Belarusian: грэ́бці (hrébci)
    • Russian: грести́ (grestí)
    • Ukrainian: гребти́ (hrebtý)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: грети (greti)

    Glagolitic: [Term?]

  • Bulgarian: греба (greba)
  • Macedonian: гребе (grebe)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: грѐпсти

    Latin script: grèpsti

    • Chakavian : grȅs
  • Slovene: grébsti (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: hřésti
    • Czech: hřesti, hřebsti
  • Kashubian: grzebac
  • Old Polish: grześć
    • Polish: grzebać
  • Slovak: hriebsť

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “гребу́”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “грести́”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 215
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1980), “*grebti”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 7 (*golvačь – *gyžati), Moscow: Nauka, page 109