Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kopriva

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

*kopriva – Urtica dioica

Etymology

By surface *koprъ (“dill”) +‎ *-ivъ +‎ *-a, probably from the original sense steaming, scalding found in the root *kopněti (“to melt (for snow), to hope”), *kypěti (“to boil up”), because of the burning feel on the human skin on touch of this plant. For similar semantic development, compare dial. Czech žeřica (“nettle”) (from Proto-Slavic *žarъ (“embers”)), German Brennessel (“nettle”) (from German brennen (“to burn”)), Dutch brandnetel from branden (“to burn”), Latin ūrtīca from ūrere (“to burn”). Unlikely from the sense aroma applied in *koprъ and attested in the related lemmas Lithuanian kvãpas (“aroma”), Lithuanian kvėpti (“to smell, to breath”), since nettle does not have any particular smell.

A secondary reason of the relation to *koprъ (“dill”) may be the use of both as a food supplement.

The form *kropiva to which some forms point is modelled after *kropiti (“to besprinkle”) conceiving the crop’s conspicuous manner of distribution.

Noun

*kopriva f

stinging nettle

Alternative forms

*kropiva

Inflection

Declension of *kopriva (hard a-stem)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	*kopriva	*koprivě	*koprivy
Accusative	*koprivǫ	*koprivě	*koprivy
Genitive	*koprivy	*koprivu	*koprivъ
Locative	*koprivě	*koprivu	koprivasъ, koprivaxъ^*
Dative	*koprivě	*koprivama	*koprivamъ
Instrumental	koprivojǫ, koprivǫ^**	*koprivama	*koprivami
Vocative	*koprivo	*koprivě	*koprivy

^* -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

*koprivьnъ (relational adjective)

Related terms

*kopъtь (“steam, smoke”)
*koprina (“silk”), *koprinica (“dodder”)
*kopněti (“to melt, to hope”)
*kypěti (“to boil, to vaporize”)

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: кропива (kropiva), крапива (krapiva)
  - Belarusian: крапіва́ (krapivá), but dialectally also крапі́ва (krapíva)
  - Russian: крапи́ва (krapíva)
  - Ukrainian: кропива́ (kropyvá), but dialectally also кропи́ва (kropýva)
South Slavic:
- Old Church Slavonic:
  Old Cyrillic: коприва (kopriva)
  Glagolitic: ⰽⱁⱂⱃⰻⰲⰰ (kopriva)
- Bulgarian: копри́ва (kopríva), dial. покри́ва (pokríva)
- Macedonian: ко́прива (kópriva)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: ко̀прива
  Latin: kòpriva
- Slovene: kopríva, formerly dialectally also kropíva
West Slavic:
- Old Czech: kopřiva
  - Czech: kopřiva
    - Bohemian (Chod dialect): kopřiva
- Polabian: ťüpraivă
- Old Polish: koprzywa
  - Polish: pokrzywa
- Old Slovak: kopriwa
  - Slovak: kopriva (dialectal)
- Slovincian: kʷópřəva
- Sorbian:
  - Upper Sorbian: kopřiwa
  - Lower Sorbian: kopśiwa