Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kobyla

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 Early Proto-Slavic *kabūlā, further likely originating from the Balkans or Anatolia. Most likely borrowed from Thracian *kabūlā (“mare, horse”), whence the toponym Κᾰβῠ́λη (Kabúlē, “Cabyle”) in ancient Thrace. Further associated with the names of the mountain Κῠ́βελᾰ (Kúbela) in Anatolia and the Phrygian Mother of the Gods Κῠβέλη (Kubélē, “Cybele”), also called Κῠβέλεια Μήτηρ (Kubéleia Mḗtēr, “Mountain Mother”) and seems to have been designated in the Mycenaean Greek Pylos texts as 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊 𐀂𐀤𐀊 (po-ti-ni-ja i-qe-ja, “lady of horses”). Phrygian *kubela probably meant “mountain; mountain horse”, a kind of Asia Minor cultural calque; compare “horse” in Hittite 𒀲𒆳𒊏𒍑 (ANŠE.KUR.RA-us /⁠*ekkus⁠/) literally “mountain donkeys” < 𒀲 (anše, “donkey; equid”) + 𒆳𒊏 (kur-ra /⁠kurak⁠/, “of the mountain”). Thracian and Phrygian have different vowels of the suffix (*-ula : *-ela) and the root < *kaub- : *kub-.

Cognate with Ancient Greek κᾰβᾰ́λλης (kabállēs, “nag”), Latin caballus (“pack-horse”), Proto-Celtic *kaballos (“horse”) and Swabian Kōb (“nag”).

Noun

*kobỳla f

1. mare (female horse)
2. implements or things that look like a horse

Declension

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*kobỳla	*kobỳlě	*kobỳly
genitive	*kobỳly	*kobỳlu	*kobỳlъ
dative	*kobỳlě	*kobỳlama	*kobỳlamъ
accusative	*kobỳlǫ	*kobỳlě	*kobỳly
instrumental	*kobỳlojǫ, *kobỳlǭ**	*kobỳlama	*kobỳlamī
locative	*kobỳlě	*kobỳlu	*kobỳlasъ, *kobỳlaxъ*
vocative	*kobỳlo	*kobỳlě	*kobỳly

^* -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

• *kobylica
• *kobylina
• *kobylъka
• *kobylьjь

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: кобꙑла (kobyla)
    • Old Ruthenian: кобы́ла (kobýla)
      • Belarusian: кабы́ла (kabýla)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: кобы́ла (kobŷ́la)
      • Ukrainian: коби́ла (kobýla)
    • Russian: кобы́ла (kobýla)
  • Old Novgorodian: кобꙑла (kobyla)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: кобꙑла (kobyla)

    Glagolitic script: ⰽⱁⰱⱏⰺⰾⰰ (kobyla)

  • Bulgarian: коби́ла (kobíla)
  • Macedonian: кобила (kobila)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ко̀била

    Latin script: kòbila

  • Slovene: kobíla
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: kobyla
    • Czech: kobyla
  • Kashubian: kòbëła
  • Polabian: ťübålă
  • Old Polish: kobyła
    • Polish: kobyła; kobėła (dialectal)
  • Old Slovak: kobyla, kobola, kobula
    • Pannonian Rusyn: кобула (kobula)
    • Slovak: kobyla; kobula, kobola (dialectal)
  • Slovincian: kôbëla
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: kobyła; kobuła (dialectal)
    • Upper Sorbian: kobła
• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: cobilă

Further reading

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1985), “кобила”, in Етимологічний словник української мови (in Ukrainian), volume 2 (Д – Копці), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, page 476
• Martynaŭ, V. U., editor (1988), “кабы́ла”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы (in Belarusian), volumes 4 (К – ка́ята), Minsk: Navuka i technika, page 12
• Trubachyov, Oleg (1960) Происхождение названий домашних животных в славянских языках (in Russian), Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, page 52: “Слав. kobyla ― Slav. kobyla”
• Shansky, N. M., editor (1982), “кобы́ла”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), volume 2, number 8 (К), Moscow: Moscow University Press, page 178
• Vasmer, Max (1967) “кобы́ла”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), volumes 2 (Е – Муж), Moscow: Progress, page 269
• Preobrazhensky, A. G. (1910–1914) “кобы́ла”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), volumes 1 (А – О), numbers 1–9, Moscow: G. Lissner & D. Sobko Publishing House, page 325