Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/krǫtъ

Probably from Proto-Balto-Slavic *krantás (“sheer, precipitous”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, to crook”) + *-ǫtъ. Substantivized as Lithuanian krañtas (“bank, shore”), dial. Latvian krañts (“edge, bank”) within Baltic (cf. derivative Old East Slavic крꙋча (kruča, “steep, precipice”) < *krǫťa).

• Per Derksen, with no cognates outside of Balto-Slavic.
• Per Vasmer, presumably from a nasal-infix variant of Proto-Indo-European *kert-, found in Sanskrit कृणत्ति (kṛṇátti, “to twist thread, to spin”), चृटति (cṛṭáti, “to bind, to fasten together”), Ancient Greek κάρταλος (kártalos, “basket”), κυρτία (kurtía, “anything made of wicker”), Latin crātis (“wattle fence, corral”), Old Irish cret (“body of a cart”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍃 (haurds, “door”), Old High German hurt (“wattle fence, anything made of wicker”) (plural hurdi).

*krǫ̑tъ^[1][2][3]

1. winding, steep, abrupt (of shape)

   Synonyms: *prikrъ, *strьmъ

2. (by abstraction) severe, harsh (of condition)

• *krǫtiti (“to turn, to twist”), *krǫtati (“to kink, to crook; to harshen”)
  • *krǫtа (resultant noun)
  • *krǫticа (“kinky structure (forest, decoration, tie)”)
• *krǫtina, *krǫtizna, *krǫtostь (abstract nouns)
• *krǫťa (“cliff, steep”) (in East Slavic)

• *krivъ (“curved, uneven”)
• *krǫpъ (“compact, concise”)
• *krǫglъ (“circular”)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: крꙋтꙑи (krutyi)
    • Middle Russian: крутой (krutoj)
      • Russian: круто́й (krutój)
        • → Bulgarian: крут (krut, “drastic, serious”) (formal)
    • Old Ruthenian: крутый (krutyj)^[4]
      • Belarusian: круты́ (krutý); круты́й (krutýj) (dialectal)
      • Carpathian Rusyn: круты́й (krutŷ́j)
      • Ukrainian: крути́й (krutýj)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: крѫтъ (krǫtŭ)

    Glagolitic script: ⰽⱃⱘⱅⱏ (krǫtŭ)

  • Bulgarian: крут (krut, “sharp, coarse”) (dialectal)
  • Macedonian: крут (krut)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: кру̑т

    Latin script: krȗt

    • → Slovene: krȗt (standard)
  • Slovene: krọ̑t (obsolete)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: krutý
    • Czech: krutý
  • Old Polish: kręty
    • Polish: kręty; kryͤnti (dialectal)
  • Slovak: krutý
  • Pannonian Rusyn: крути (kruti)
  • Slovincian: krãty
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: kruty
    • Lower Sorbian: kšutу

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “круто́й”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*krǫtъ(jь)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 33
• Martynaŭ, V. U., editor (1989), “круты́”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), volumes 5 (ка́яць – ліпя́нка), Minsk: Navuka i technika
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “крут”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 29
• “krantas”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012