Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kury

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 *kùrъ (“cock, rooster”) +‎ *-y. Originally meant “hen”, for semantic development compare French cocotte, poule. Most likely false cognate of Latin cārus (“beloved”), Latvian kārs (“craving, covetous”) and English whore (from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros).

Noun

*kùry f^[1]^[2]

(originally) Synonym of *kùra (“hen”)
harlot, strumpet

Declension

Declension of *kùry (hard v-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kùry	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi
genitive	*kùrъve	*kùrъvu	*kùrъvъ
dative	*kùrъvi	kùrъvьma, kùrъvama^*	kùrъvьmъ, kùrъvamъ^*
accusative	*kùrъvь	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi
instrumental	kùrъvьjǫ, kùrъvľǭ^**	kùrъvьma, kùrъvama^*	kùrъvьmī, kùrъvamī^*
locative	*kùrъve	*kùrъvu	kùrъvьxъ, kùrъvaxъ^*
vocative	*kùry	*kùrъvi	*kùrъvi

^* -ьmъ/etc. are the original consonant-stem endings, while -amъ/etc. are later Common Slavic endings formed by analogy with a-stems.
^** 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:
- Old East Slavic: курꙑ (kury), куръва (kurŭva)
  - Old Ruthenian: ку́рва (kúrva)
    - Belarusian: ку́рва (kúrva)
    - Carpathian Rusyn: ку́рва (kúrva)
    - Ukrainian: ку́рва (kúrva)
  - Russian: ку́рва (kúrva) (see there for further descendants)
- Old Novgorodian: куръва (kurŭva)
South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: ку́рва (kúrva)
- Macedonian: курва (kurva)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: ку̑рва, (regional) ку̑рба
  
  Latin script: kȗrva, (regional) kȗrba
  - → Balkan Romani: kùrva
  - → Vlax Romani: kùrva
- Slovene: kȗrba, kȗrva (dialectal)
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: kurva
  - Czech: kurva
- Old Polish: kurwa
  - Polish: kurwa, kurew (archaic, dialectal), k*rwa, k**wa, k***a (censored)
    - → Lithuanian: kurwa
    - → Yiddish: קורווע (kurve)
  - Silesian: kurwa
- Old Slovak: kurva
  - Slovak: kurva
  - Pannonian Rusyn: курва (kurva)
- Pomeranian:
  - Kashubian: kùrwa
  - Slovincian: kùrwa
- Sorbian:
  - Lower Sorbian: kurwa
  - Upper Sorbian: kurwa

Non-Slavic:
- → Aromanian: curvã
- → Albanian: kurvë
- → Hungarian: kurva
- → Lithuanian: kùrva
- → Romanian: curvă

References

^ Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kury”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 132
^ “kȗrba”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “kurwa”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN, page 276
Sławski, Franciszek (1966-1969) “kurwa”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volumes III: Kotar—Kysz, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, page 416
Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “ку́рва”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “ку́рва”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka
Králik, Ľubor (2016) “kurva”, in Stručný etymologický slovník slovenčiny [Concise Etymological Dictionary of Slovak] (in Slovak), Bratislava: VEDA; JÚĽŠ SAV, →ISBN, page 309
Jiří Rejzek (2007) “kurva”, in Český etymologický slovník (in Czech), Leda, page 336

[1] Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kury”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 132

[2] “kȗrba”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

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