Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/korsta

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

Uncertain. According to Pokorny, from Proto-Indo-European *kars- (“to card, scratch”), which is compared to Lithuanian kar̃šti (“to comb (wool or linen)”) (1sg. karšiù, 1sg. past karšiaũ), Latvian kā̀rst (“to comb (wool or linen)”) (1sg. kā̀ršu, 1sg. past kā̀rsu), Sanskrit कषति (káṣati, “to scrape, scratch”), Latin carrō, carriō, carreō, carō, cariō, careō (“to scratch, to comb (wool)”) (the Latin form varies between manuscripts and is uncertain).

Possibly related to Low German harsch (whence English harsh).

Noun

*kòrsta f

1. scab

Inflection

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kòrsta	*kòrstě	*kòrsty
genitive	*kòrsty	*kòrstu	*kòrstъ
dative	*kòrstě	*kòrstama	*kòrstamъ
accusative	*kòrstǫ	*kòrstě	*kòrsty
instrumental	*kòrstojǫ, *kòrstǭ**	*kòrstama	*kòrstamī
locative	*kòrstě	*kòrstu	*kòrstasъ, *kòrstaxъ*
vocative	*kòrsto	*kòrstě	*kòrsty

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *korstiti (“to hack, to shear”)
• *korstavъ (“scabby”)
  • *korstavьcь, *korstavica (“cucumber”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: каро́ста (karósta)
  • Russian: коро́ста (korósta)
  • Ukrainian: коро́ста (korósta)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: краста (krasta)

    Glagolitic script: ⰽⱃⰰⱄⱅⰰ (krasta)

    • Bulgarian: кра́ста (krásta)
  • Macedonian: краста (krasta)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: кра̏ста

    Latin script: krȁsta

  • Slovene: krásta (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: krásta
    • Czech: chrásta
  • Polish: krosta
  • Slovak: chrasta
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian:

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “короста”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1984), “*korsta”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 11 (*konьcь – *kotьna(ja)), Moscow: Nauka, page 93
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1979), “краста”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 2 (и – крепя̀), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 719

References

• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “523-33”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 523-33