Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kuna

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 Proto-Balto-Slavic *kaunā́ˀ. Related, but not exactly cognate with Lithuanian kiáunė and Latvian caûna.

In some languages, the obsolete *kuna (“necklace, adornment, icon”), possibly borrowed from dialectal Ancient Greek κούνα (koúna), standard εἰκών (eikṓn, “image, icon”), is attested. Per Trubachev, a native formation from the devervial participle *kuti (“to forge”) +‎ *-nа.

Noun

*kūnà or *kunà f

1. marten

Declension

Declension of *kūnà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kūnà	*kũně	*kūnỳ
genitive	*kūnỳ	*kūnù	*kũnъ
dative	*kūně̀	*kūnàma	*kūnàmъ
accusative	*kūnǫ̀	*kũně	*kūnỳ
instrumental	*kūnòjǫ, *kũnǫ**	*kūnàma	*kūnàmī
locative	*kūně̀	*kūnù	*kūnàsъ, *kūnàxъ*
vocative	*kuno	*kũně	*kūnỳ

^* -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).

Declension of *kunà (hard a-stem, accent paradigm c)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kunà	*kȗně	*kȗny
genitive	*kuný	*kunù	*kũnъ
dative	*kuně̀	*kunàma	*kunàmъ
accusative	*kȗnǫ	*kȗně	*kȗny
instrumental	*kunojǫ́	*kunàma	*kunàmi
locative	*kȗně	*kunù	*kunàsъ, *kunàxъ*
vocative	*kuno	*kȗně	*kȗny

^* -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.

Derived terms

• *kunica (diminutive)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic:
    • ⇒ Belarusian: куні́ца (kuníca)
    • ⇒ Russian: куни́ца (kuníca)
    • ⇒ Ukrainian: куни́ця (kunýcja)
  • ⇒ Old Novgorodian: кꙋница (kunica)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ку́на (kúna) (dated, nomen appellativum бялка (bjalka) is used instead)
    • ⇒ Bulgarian: куни́ца (kuníca)
  • Macedonian: ку́на (kúna)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: ку́на

    Latin: kúna

  • Slovene: kúna (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: kuna
    • Czech: kuna
  • Kashubian: kùna
  • Polish: kuna
  • Slovak: kuna
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: kuna
    • Upper Sorbian: kuna

Further reading

• Verweij, Arno (1994) “Quantity Patterns of Substantives in Czech and Slovak”, in Dutch Contributions to the Eleventh International Congress of Slavists, Bratislava (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics)‎^[2], volume 22, Editions Rodopi B.V., page 504
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “куница”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kuna”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 103
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “куна²”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 133