Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/kota

This Proto-Uralic 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-Uralic

Etymology

Probably akin to Proto-Iranian *kátah (compare Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀‎ (kata, “house/home, pit”), Persian کده‎ (kade, “house”)), in which case it is a loan in one direction or the other, but the direction is not entirely clear. Many researchers have supported an early loanword from pre-Indo-Iranian into Uralic, but this is not certain, as the Iranian word has no known cognates in Indo-European, not even Indo-Aryan. The similarity may simply be a coincidence.

Moreover, the root may have been a widespread Wanderwort across Eurasia; compare Abkhaz ақыҭа (akəta), Proto-Mongolic *kotan (Mongolian хот (xot, “town”)), Turkish kodak (“(dialectal) home”), Ainu コタン (kotan, “village”), Tamil குடி (kuṭi, “house, abode, home, family, lineage, town, tenants”). Borrowings from Iranian (specifically Scythian) include Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kutǭ (whence English cot, Dutch kot, German Kate) and Proto-Slavic *xata (“house”) (whence Ukrainian хата (xata), which is akin to, and possibly the origin of, Belarusian хата (xata), Czech chata, Polish chata, Russian хата (xata), Slovak chata).

Noun

*kota

1. hut, tent, tepee

Descendants

• Proto-Ugric: *kåta (see there for further descendants)
• Permic:
  • Komi:
    • Komi-Zyrian: керка (kerka, “house”), вичко (vičko, “church”)
    • Komi-Permyak: керку (kerku, “house”), вичку (vičku, “church”)
  • Udmurt: корка (korka, “house”), вуко (vuko, “mill”)
• Mari:
  • Eastern Mari: кудо (kudo)
• Proto-Mordvinic: *kūdə̑ (see there for further descendants)
• Proto-Samic: *koatē (see there for further descendants)
• Proto-Finnic: *kota (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• Entry #370 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungary.
• Rédei, Károly (1986–88) Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Uralic Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
• Häkkinen, Kaisa (2004) Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja [Modern Finnish Etymological Dictionary] (in Finnish), Juva: WSOY, →ISBN
• Itkonen, Erkki; Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000) Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The origin of Finnish words]‎^[2] (in Finnish), [note: linked online version also includes some other etymological sources], Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN
• Joki, Aulis J. (1973) Uralier und Indogermanen [Uralians and Indo-Europeans] (Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia; 151) (in German), Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, →ISBN
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “хата”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), translated from German and supplemented by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress