doiSerbia

A contribution to the study of the psl *kovylъ/*kovylь ‘Stipa pennata’

Bjeletić Marta Ž. (Institute for the Serbian Language of SASA, Serbia)

Contemporary etymological research is largely aimed at rethinking hitherto offered etymological solutions, especially for words that do not have a generally accepted interpretation. One of those words is PSl *kovylъ / *kovylь ‘feather-grass, Stipa pennata’, whose continuants are attested mainly in Eastern and Southern Slavic languages: Ru. kovyľ, kovyl, Ukr. koviľ, kovila, Bel. kavyľ, Bulg. kovil, koil, kofi l, Mac. kovil, kofi l, SCr. kovilje, Sln. kovilje. The etymological literature has drawn attention to the potential connection of PSl *kovylъ / *kovylь with the verb *kovyľati (sę) ‘to swing, wobble, stagger’, even though this verb does not have a unanimously accepted interpretation either. This paper departs from the assumption that the phytonym and verb under consideration have a common origin, and that the prefi x *ko- is distinguished in both forms. The verb is related to PSl *vьlati, vьlajǫ ‘to swing, swing on waves’, related to PSl *vьlna ‘wave’, *valiti (sę) ‘to roll’, and ultimately boils down to the IE root *ṷelH- ‘to roll’. As among the continuants and derivatives of the PSl verb *vьlati there is a variation of the reduced vowels (-ь- : -ъ-) at the root (cf. OCS vъlajati sę ‘to oscillate (about waves)’, etc.), forms with the vocalism -ъ- could serve as a basis for the occurrence of the secondary ablaut *vъl- / *vyl-. Thus, from the unconfirmed prefixed form *ko-vъlati sę (a form without the prefix *vъlati sę is reconstructed!), an intense / iterative *kovyl(j)ati sę could be created in the same meaning. The variance of -ati / -jati can be explained from the original *kovylati, koviljǫ (sę), with the subsequent spread of the palatal ľ from the present tense stem to the infinitive stem. This also explains the variation of the palatal and non-palatal l at the end of the stem of the deverbal noun *kovylъ / *kovylь.

Keywords: Proto-Slavic language, phytonim, *kovylъ /*kovylь ‘feather-grass, Stipa pennata’, verb *kovyľati (sę) ‘to swing, wobble, stagger’, etymology, secondary ablaut