On the etymologization of the Russian dialect vocabulary (prusak ‘european hare, lepus europaeus’, ptichka-zveroboy)
Abstract
The paper discusses the etymology of two Russian dialect words: прус´ак [prusak] ‘European hare, Lepus europaeus’, ‘hare, Lepus’ and птичка- зверобой [ptichka-zveroboy] which is used in the riddle: Птичка-зверобой Свила гнездо над водой [Ptichka-zveroboy Svila gnezdo nad vodoy] (watermill). For the first of them the direct derivation from the root прус- [prus-] ‘Prussian’ is rejected. It is presumed that прус´ак [prusak] ‘European hare, Lepus europaeus’ comes from рус´ак [rusak] ‘id’ as a result of paronymic attraction рус- [rus-] and прус- [prus-] which is typical for many Slavic and non-Slavic languages, cf. Rus. dial. прус´алка [prusalka] ‘mermaid’ from рус´алка [rusalka] ‘id’. Also the low probability of the direct derivation of прус´ак [prusak] ‘European hare’ from прус- [prus-] ‘Prussian’ is proved by numerous examples of xenomotivation in animal names which do not include names for hare. The second part of the construction птичка- зверобой [ptichka-zveroboy] is treated as a derivative of the verb сверб´еть [sverbet’] ‘rotate, move anxiously’, ‘itch, prick’ (Proto-Slav. *svьrběti) whose initial form was сверб´ей [sverbey] (Proto-Slav. *svьrbьjь) which lately was changed to сверб´ой [sverboy] / свереб´ой [svereboy] (the second pleophony) / свероб´ой [sveroboy] (intersyllabic assimilation) and further - to зверьб´ой [zver’boy] / звереб´ой [zvereboy] / звероб´ой [zveroboy] as a result of the first consonant voicing. In terms of semantics the etymology is proved, on the one hand, by numerous names for spry creatures derived from the root сверб- [sverb-] and, on the other hand, by bird names motivated by the verbs of rotational movement. The idea of the relation between the last element of птичка-зверобой [ptichka-zveroboy] and сверб- [sverb-] among other things proves that the plant name звероб´ой [zveroboy] ‘John’s wort, Hypericum perforatum’ belongs to the same word-family. It obviously relates to the verb сверб´еть [sverbet’] ‘itch, prick’ like its synonyms in the Russian language (cf. свероб´а [sveroba], сверьб´а [sver’ba], свороб´ой [svoroboy]). The Slavic names for John’s wort derived from the verbs with the meaning ‘prick, puncture’ are used as a semasiological argument.
References
Ananyeva N. Ye. (2018) Obscheye i razlichnoye v metodologii opisaniya
pol’skikh ostrovnykh dialektov Sibiri i pol’skikh „kresovykh” govorov
[Common and different aspects in the description of the Polish isolated
Siberian dialects and of the Polish “kres” dialects]. Issledovaniya po slavyanskoy
dialektologii 19–20. Slavyanskiye dialekty v sovremennoy yazykovoy
situatsii. Dialektnyy slovar’ kak sposob issledovaniya slavyanskikh dialektov
[Studies into the Slavic dialectology 19–20. Slavic dialects in modern language
situation. Dialect dictionary as a way of the Slavic dialect research]. Ed. by
L. E. Kalnyn’. Moscow: Institut slavyanovedeniya RAN: 14–23. (in Russian)
Avanesov R. I. (ed.) (1988) Obscheslavyanskiy lingvisticheskiy atlas.
Zhivotnyy mir [Slavic linguistic atlas. Animal world]. Lexical and wordformation
series. Vol. 1. Moscow: Nauka. (in Russian)
Bakhvalova T. V. (ed.) (1989–2016) Slovar’ orlovskikh govorov [Dictionary
of Orel dialects]. Vol. 1–17. Yaroslavl’, Orel. (in Russian)
Berezovich Ye. L. (2007) O yavlenii leksicheskoy ksenomotivatsii [On
the phenomenon of the xenomotivation]. Yazyk i traditsionnaya kul’tura:
Etnolingvisticheskiye issledovaniya [Language and traditional culture: Ethnolinguistic
studies]. Moscow: Indrik: 404–467. (in Russian)
Berezovich Ye. L. (2014) “Russkiy” v russkikh narodnykh govorakh
[“Russian” in the Russian dialects]. Russkaya leksika na obscheslavyanskom
fone: semantiko-motivatsionnaya rekonstruktsiya [Russian vocabulary on the
common Slavic background: semantic and motivation reconstruction]. Moscow:
Universitet Dmitriya Pozharskogo: 110–135. (in Russian)
Derksen R. (2008) Etymological dictionary of Slavic inherited lexicon.
Leiden—Boston: Brill. (in English)
Dolgushev V. G., Smetanina Z. V. (eds.) (1996–2018) Oblastnoy slovar’
vyatskikh govorov [Regional dictionary of Vyatka dialects]. Vol. 1–12. Kirov.
(in Russian)
Dyachenko S. V., Krylov S. A., Malysheva A. V., Ter-Avanesova A. V.
(2019) Materialy po raspredelyeniyu dvukh fonem “tipa o” v yuzhnorusskom
govore sela Rogovatoye [Materials on distribution of two “o type” phonemes
in the South Russian dialect of Rogovatoye village]. In: Slavyanskoye
i balkanskoye yazykoznaniye: Rusistika. Slavistika. Komparativistika: Sbornik
k 64-letiyu S. L. Nikolayeva [Slavic and Balkan linguistics: Russian, Slavic and
comparative studies. Volume on S. L. Nikolaev’s 64th anniversary]. Moscow:
Institut slavyanovyedyeniya RAN: 34–150. (in Russian)
Fasmer M. (2003) Etimologicheskiy slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Etymological
dictionary of the Russian language]. Translation from German and additions
by O. N. Trubachyov. Vol. 1–4. 4th edition, stereotypic. Moscow: Astryel’-AST.
(in Russian)
Filin F. P., Sorokoletov F. P., Myznikov S. A. (eds.) (1965–2019) Slovar’
russkikh narodnykh govorov [Dictionary of Russian folk dialects]. Vol. 1–51
(the publication continues). (in Russian)
Fyodorov A. I. (ed.) (1999–2006) Slovar’ russkikh govorov Sibiri [Dictionary
of the Russian Siberian dialects]. Novosibirsk. (in Russian)
Ivanova A. I., Borisova Ye. N., Boyarinova L. Z. (eds.) (1974–2005) Slovar’
smolenskikh govorov [Dictionary of Smolensk dialects]. Vol. 1–11. Smolensk.
(in Russian)
Klevtsova A. V., Petrova L. Ya. (eds.) (2010) Novgorodskiy oblastnoy
slovar’ [Novgorod regional dictionary]. Edition prepared by S. A. Myznikov,
A. N. Levichkin. St. Petersburg: Nauka. (in Russian)
Kolosova V. B. (2009) Leksika i simvolika slavynskoy narodnoy botaniki.
Etnolingvisticheskiy aspekt [Vocabulary and symbolism of the Russian folk
botanics. Ethnolinguistic aspect]. Moscow: Indrik. (in Russian)
Larin B. A. [et al.] (eds.) (1967–2019) Pskovskyy oblastnoy slovar’
s istoricheskimi dannymi [Pskov regional dictionary with historical data].
Vol. 1–27. Leningrad, St. Peterburg (the publication continues). (in Russian)
Machek V. (1971) Etymologický slovník jazyka českého [Etymological
dictionary of the Czech language]. Praha: Akademia. (in Czech)
Matveyev A. K. (ed.) (1996) Slovar’ russkikh govorov Srednyego Urala:
Dopolnyeniya [Dictionary of the Russian dialects of the Middle Urals:
Additions]. Yekaterinburg. (in Russian)
Melnichuk O. S. (ed.) (1982–2012) Etymologichnyy slovnik ukrain’skoy
movy [Etymological dictionary of the Ukrainian language]. Vol. 1–6. Kyyiv:
Naukova dumka. (in Ukrainian)
Mikhalyova T. V., Semenkova R. V., Chikina L. K. (comp.) (2013) Slovar’
russkikh govorov na territorii Respubliki Mordoviya [Dictionary of the Russian
dialects on the territory of the Republic of Mordovia]. Parts 1–2. St. Petersburg:
Nauka. (in Russian)
Panikorovskaya T. G., Zorina L. Yu. (eds.) (1982–2007) Slovar’ vologodskikh
govorov [Dictionary of Vologda dialects]. Vol. 1–12. Vologda. (in
Russian)
Podgórscy B. i A. (2008) Słownik gwar śląskich [Dictionary of the Silesian
dialects]. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS. (in Polish)
Pokorny J. (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-
Germanic etymological dictionary]. Bern—München. (in German)
Preobrazhenskiy A. (1910–1914) Etimologicheskiy slovar’ russkogo yazyka
[Etymological dictionary of the Russian language]. Moscow. (in Russian)
Shalayeva T. V. (2018) Russkaya fitonimiya i narodnaya etimologiya
(na materiale “Leksicheskogo atlasa russkikh narodnykh govorov”) [Russian
plant names and folk etymology (on the material of “Lexical atlas of the
Russian dialects”)]. Leksicheskiy atlas russkikh narodnykh govorov (Materialy
i issledovaniya) 2018 [Lexical atlas of Russian folk dialects (Materials and
research)] 2018. Ed. by S. A. Myznikov. St. Petersburg: ILI RAN: 467–486.
(in Russian)
Snoj M. (2016) Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian etymological dictionary].
3th edition. Ljubljana. (in Slovenian)
Trubachyov O. N., Zhuravlyov A. F., Varbot Zh. Zh. (eds.) (1974–2018)
Etimologicheskiy slovar’ slavyanskikh yazykov (Praslavyanskiy leksicheskiy
fond) [Etymological dictionary of the Slavic languages (Proto-Slavic lexical
fund)]. Vol. 1–41. Moscow: Nauka (the publication continues). (in Russian)
Varbot Zh. Zh. (2018) Variantnost’ dialektnoy leksiki i etimologiya
[Dialect vocabulary varience and etymology]. Issledovaniya po slavyanskoy
dialektologii 19–20. Slavyanskiye dialekty v sovremennoy yazykovoy situatsii.
Dialektnyy slovar’ kak sposob issledovaniya slavyanskikh dialektov [Studies
into the Slavic dialectology 19–20. Slavic dialects in modern language
situation. Dialect dictionary as a way of the Slavic dialect research]. Ed. by
L. E. Kalnyn’. Moscow: Institut slavyanovedeniya RAN: 130–134. (in Russian)
Vendina T. I. (ed.) (2017) Leksicheskiy atlas russkikh narodnykh govorov.
T. 1. Rastitel’nyy mir [Lexical atlas of Russian folk dialects. Vol. 1. Plant world].
Moscow; St. Peterburg: Nestor-Istoriya. (in Russian)
Zhuravlyov A. F. (1980) K etimologii slav. *vorb- ‘ptitsa vorobey, Passer’
[On the etymology of Slav. *vorb- ‘sparrow, Passer’]. Etimologiya 1978 [Etymology
1978]. Ed. by O. N. Trubachyov. Moscow: Nauka: 52–58. (in Russian)