Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/orkyta

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

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷos (“bow, arrow”), as willow twigs were used to make bows due to their flexibility. Compare Latvian ērkšķis, Ancient Greek ἄρκευθος (árkeuthos), Old English earh (whence English arrow), Latin arcus (“arc, bow”).

Noun

*orkyta f

1. willow?

Inflection

Declension of *orkyta (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*orkyta	*orkytě	*orkyty
genitive	*orkyty	*orkytu	*orkytъ
dative	*orkytě	*orkytama	*orkytamъ
accusative	*orkytǫ	*orkytě	*orkyty
instrumental	*orkytojǫ, *orkytǫ**	*orkytama	*orkytami
locative	*orkytě	*orkytu	*orkytasъ, *orkytaxъ*
vocative	*orkyto	*orkytě	*orkyty

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Russian: раки́та (rakíta)
  • Ukrainian: роки́та (rokýta)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ракѝта (rakìta)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ра̀кита

    Latin script: ràkita

  • Slovene: rakȋta (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: rokyta
    • Czech: rokyta (obsolete)
  • Polabian: rükå᾽itа
  • Polish: rokita
  • Slovak: rakyta
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: rokot m
    • Lower Sorbian: rokita

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Albanian: arqitë

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “раки́та”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress