Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/čula

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

Probably substantized l-participle of an obsolete onomatopoeic verb *čuti (“to grump”) +‎ *-lъ, attested as Proto-Slavic *čьvati (“to bark, to harass”). Cognate (as per Bezlaj, Karaliūnas) with Lithuanian kiaũlė (“pig”).

Alternative proposals:

• From grammatical *čuti (“to hear, to sense”) < Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to perceive”) with semantic inversion senseful → deaf, silent.
• From Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”), associating the grumpy demeanour of the animal as a result of cautiousness (for hogs) or stealthiness (for owls).

Noun

*čula f

1. animal with low-pitch call or growl

   → hog (Western South Slavic)

   → owlet (Eastern South Slavic)

Alternative forms

• *čulo n
• *čulę (diminutive)

Inflection

Declension of *čula (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*čula	*čulě	*čuly
genitive	*čuly	*čulu	*čulъ
dative	*čulě	*čulama	*čulamъ
accusative	*čulǫ	*čulě	*čuly
instrumental	*čulojǫ, *čulǫ**	*čulama	*čulami
locative	*čulě	*čulu	*čulasъ, *čulaxъ*
vocative	*čulo	*čulě	*čuly

^* -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).

Related terms

• *čьvati, *ščьvati (“to bark, to slander, to harass”)
• *čuxъ (“growl, sniffle”)
  • ⇒ Bulgarian: чу́хал (čúhal, “scops owl”) (hooting bird)
  • ⇒ Russian: чу́ха (čúxa, “pig”) (sniffing, growling animal)
• *skuka (“boredom”)

Descendants

• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: чу́ла (čúla, “owl”), чуло́ (čuló, “owlet”) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian: (dialectal)

    Cyrillic script: чу̏ла (“owl”)

    Latin script: čȕla (“owl”)

  • Slovene: čúla (“hog”) (tonal orthography) (dialectal)
    • ⇒ Slovene: čȗlək (tonal orthography)

Further reading

• “чвати”, in Горох – Словозміна [Horokh – Inflection] (in Ukrainian)
• Snoj, Marko (2016) “čulek”, in Slovenski etimološki slovar [Slovenian Etymology Dictionary] (in Slovene), 3rd edition, https://fran.si
• “kiaulė”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012