gorosti
Basque
Alternative forms
- khorostü, koosti (Souletin)
- korosti, gorozti, kostei
Etymology
Possibly from Proto-Basque *golosti, but the ultimate origin is unknown. Perhaps a Mediterranean Wanderwort also found in Sardinian golosti, colostri (“holly”) and Ancient Greek κήλαστρος (kḗlastros, “holly”).
Beyond Sardinian and Greek, which clearly bear some resemblance to Basque, other putative cognates have been proposed. Some authors also cite Ticinese ğüštrún, šištrún (“whortleberry, Vaccinium myrtillus”), apparently from Proto-Celtic *glastos (“green”), via Gallo-Italic *wolostrone,[1] but the semantics is quite doubtful. Agud and Tovar (1994) note that Old English gorst, English gorse (“furze, bramble”) and German Gerste (“barley”) are similar in shape to this word,[2] however, as the Celtic term, they have a well-established Indo-European etymology.
Derivations that try to explain this word as a Basque compound, such as gora (“up, above”) + osto (“leaf”), or that link it to garratz (“sour”) are to be considered folk etymologies.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡoɾos̺ti/, [ɡo̞.ɾo̞s̺.t̪i]
Noun
gorosti inan
- (botany) holly (Ilex aquifolium)
Declension
| Declension of gorosti (inanimate, ending in vowel) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | singular | plural | |
| absolutive | gorosti | gorostia | gorostiak |
| ergative | gorostik | gorostiak | gorostiek |
| dative | gorostiri | gorostiari | gorostiei |
| genitive | gorostiren | gorostiaren | gorostien |
| comitative | gorostirekin | gorostiarekin | gorostiekin |
| causative | gorostirengatik | gorostiarengatik | gorostiengatik |
| benefactive | gorostirentzat | gorostiarentzat | gorostientzat |
| instrumental | gorostiz | gorostiaz | gorostiez |
| inessive | gorostitan | gorostian | gorostietan |
| locative | gorostitako | gorostiko | gorostietako |
| allative | gorostitara | gorostira | gorostietara |
| terminative | gorostitaraino | gorostiraino | gorostietaraino |
| directive | gorostitarantz | gorostirantz | gorostietarantz |
| destinative | gorostitarako | gorostirako | gorostietarako |
| ablative | gorostitatik | gorostitik | gorostietatik |
| partitive | gorostirik | — | — |
| prolative | gorostitzat | — | — |
References
- Grzega, Joachim (2001) Romania Gallica Cisalpina: Etymologisch-geolinguistische Studien zu den oberitalienisch-rätoromanischen Keltizismen (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie; 311), De Gruyter, pages 181-182
- Agud, Manuel; Tovar, Antonio (1994), “Materiales Para Un Diccionario Etimológico De La Lengua Vasca (I-XXI)”, in Anuario Del Seminario De Filología Vasca «Julio De Urquijo» (in Spanish), volume XV, Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa, DOI:, pages 825–826
Further reading
- “gorosti” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], euskaltzaindia.eus
- “gorosti” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk