Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/reťi

From a Proto-Indo-European *(H)rek-, with the following proposed cognates:^[1]

• Per Vasmer, cognate with Lithuanian rẽkti (“to shout, to roar”), 1sg. rėkiù, Lithuanian rékauti (“to shout, to roar”), 1sg. rékauju, Latvian rèkt (“to shout, to roar, to howl”), rȩ̃kôt (“to talk, to chat”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌷𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (rahnjan, “to calculate”), Tocharian B reki, Tocharian A rake (“speech, word”), Latin raccō (“to roar (like a tiger)”), Old Irish réimm (“shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *rekmen.^[2]
• Per Derksen, possibly cognate with Welsh rhegi (“curse”).

Regardless, Sanskrit रचयति (racáyati, “to work, to construct”) (see the root रच् (rac) for more) is adduced as a cognate in both cases.

*reťi pf (imperfective *govorìti or *mъlviti)^[1]

1. to say

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: речи (reči)
    • Old Ruthenian: речи́ (rečí)
      • Belarusian: рачы́ (račý)
      • Ukrainian: речи́ (rečý), ректи́ (rektý)
    • Russian: речи́ (rečí) (dialectal), -ре́чь (-réčʹ)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: рещи (rešti)

    Glagolitic: ⱃⰵⱋⰻ (rešti)

  • Bulgarian: река́ (reká)
  • Macedonian: рече (reče)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ре̏ћи

    Latin script: rȅći

  • Slovene: réči (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: řéci
    • Czech: říct, říci
  • Kashubian: rzec
  • Old Polish: rzec
    • Polish: rzec
  • Slovak: riecť (dated)

• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1999), “реку”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 109
• Šanskij, N. M. (2004), “речь”, in Školʹnyj etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkovo jazyka [School Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Drofa

From earlier *regti, with further etymology uncertain. Boryś derives descendants from *ręgati/*rǫgati (“to offend, to scorn”),^[1] while Brückner derives Slovene régniti from *ręžati (“to have a wide open mouth”), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreng- (“to twist, wring”).^[2] This makes the missing nasal in Polish problematic, however. Snoj alternatively suggests the above to be onomatopoeic, comparing Czech řehtat (“to neigh”), Latin ringor (“to snarl”).^[3][4]

Łuczyński proposed to derive it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁regʷ- (“to be dark”). For meaning shift from “dark, black” > “empty” compare Sanskrit रजस् (rajas, “darkness; space”), Tigrinya ፀሊም (ṣ́älim, “black, dark, empty”). The original Slavic meaning could therefore be “to make blanks”, which was narrowed down to “to cut”.^[5]

*reťi impf^[5]

1. to cut, crack

• South Slavic:
  • Croatian:
    • Kajkavian: regani (“notched, with cracks”) (passive participle from *regati)
      • ⇒ Kajkavian: *rega
        • ⇒ Kajkavian: regast (“corrugated”)
    • ⇒ Shtokavian: regánac (“incised lace”)
  • Slovene: régati (“to crack”), rẹ́gniti (“to burst, open up”)
    • ⇒ Slovene: réga
      • ⇒ Slovene: régast
• West Slavic:
  • Polish: *rzegać
    • ⇒ Polish: rzega (“streak, weal, welt”) (dialectal)