The root lacks direct Indo-European relatives, so it cannot be reconstructed with full certainty. Nonetheless, both Derksen and Vasmer suppose an origin from the hypothetical proto-Indo-European root *ger-(“to bend, to craft”), which was enlarged in Slavic into (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European*gr̥bʰos < *gerbʰ-(“to carve, to crib”). From the same root, but via different extensions, descend Proto-Germanic*krabōną(“to crave, to contract”) and its derivative Proto-Germanic*kraftaz(“craft”) as well as Proto-Germanic*kreupaną(“to creep, to twist, to cripple”). Other cognates include Old Irishgerbach(“scabby, mangy”), Icelandickorpa(“wrinkle”), Old Armenianկարթ(kartʻ, “fishhook, fishing hook”) (< *gr̥̄p-ti-).
Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “горб”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1980), “*gъrbъ / *gъrba”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 07 (*golvačь – *gyžati), Moscow: Nauka, page 199
References
^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*gъrbъ; *gъrba”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 198: “m. o; f. ā ‘hump’”
^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “gъrbъ gъrba”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “d (OSA 141)”
^ Snoj, Marko (2016) “gŕba”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si: “*gъ̋rba”
