Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/guja

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 Proto-Indo-European *gʷówyeh₂, a derivative of *gʷówyos (“pertaining to cows”). The semantic link between a "snake" and "cow" is resolved by noting the existence of old Slavic folk beliefs in which snakes could consume cow milk. The same etymology also underlies Latin boa (“a kind of snake”), which was also subject to similar folk beliefs among ancient Romans.

For further information, see Witczak, Kowalski and Rychło (2023).^[1]

Noun

*guja f

snake

Declension

Declension of *guja (soft a-stem)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*guja	*guji	*guję̇
genitive	*guję̇	*guju	*gujь
dative	*guji	*gujama	*gujamъ
accusative	*gujǫ	*guji	*guję̇
instrumental	gujejǫ, gujǫ^**	*gujama	*gujami
locative	*guji	*guju	gujasъ, gujaxъ^*
vocative	*guje	*guji	*guję̇

^* -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).

Descendants

South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: гу́я (gúja, “snake”)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: гу́ја (“snake, helminth”)
  
  Latin script: gúja
West Slavic:
- >? Czech: huja (“gut, bowel; sausage”)
  - ⇒ Czech: hujec (“pig bowels stuffed with meat”) (dialectal)

References

^ Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz; Kowalski, Andrzej; Rychło, Mikołaj (2023), “Dwa południowosłowiańskie herpetonimy w oświetleniu językoznawczym i etnograficznym (psł. *korvosъsъ 'wąż Eskulapa', *guja 'wąż, żmija') [Two South Slavic herpetonyms in an etymological and ethnographic light (Proto-Slavic *korvosъsъ 'Aesculapian snake', *guja 'snake, viper')]”, in Slavistična revija (in Polish), volume 71, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 355–368