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Ranko Matasovi, University of Zagreb

Proto-Slavic *dro 'kernel, core' and *dro 'bosom'

Julius Pokorny (IEW: 774) derived both PSl. *dro 'kernel, core' (Russ. jadr 'kernel, core',

Cz. jdro 'kernel, core', Pl. jdro 'grain, kernel, core', Croat. jdro'id.',1Bulg.jedr 'kernel')

and *dro 'bosom' (OCSjadrapl. 'bosom, embarce', Cz. adro 'breast, bosom', Pl.jadro 'net',

Croat.jdro 'sail', njdro 'bosom')2from the same PIE root, *h2eyd- 'swell' (Gr. oid'swell',

Arm. ait 'cheek', aitnum 'swell').3However, this is difficult from the phonological point of

view, and it certainly does not suffice to claim, as IEW does, that *dro is from a 'nasalised'

form of the root. Before accepting such an etymology, we would need to show the source of

the nasal in *dro, and also to explain how the meanings 'kernel, core' and 'bosom' are related.

No wonder, then, that Pokorny's etymology is rejected by most contemporary compendia of

Slavic etymology (Derksen 150, 157, ESSJa VI: 45-47, VI: 65-66, Vasmer s.v. jadr). Yet

rejecting the connection does not solve the problem, as it leaves PSl. *dro without an

etymology. Therefore, in this paper, we shall attempt to show that Pokorny was right after all,

and derive both *dro and *dro from the same PIE source.

Here is how we proceed. First, we note that both 'bosom' and 'kernel, core' can be derived from the

original meaning 'internal organ, gland'. Next, we recall that many nouns denoting internal organs in

PIE were heteroclita, having the alternation of *-r (in the Nom./Acc. sg.) and *-n- (in the oblique

cases), e.g. *ykwr 'liver' (Gr. hpar, hpao, Lat. icur, iecini, etc.). Heteroclita were not preserved

as such in Slavic, but there is some clear evidence that they still existed in the Balto-Slavic period

(Matasovi 1998).

We posit a PIE heterocliton *h2eydr / *h2idn-os, which would have given Balto-Slavic *aydr / *idn-as.

In the oblique cases, *-dn- would have regularly metathesized to *-nd- (as in Lith. anduowater PSl. *dro),

while the stem *aydr was thematized to *aydra- and became the origin of the noun meaning swelling

> bosom, breast (> PSl. *dro). The name of the Vedic god Indra-, although it is sometimes

connected with these Slavic words, is probably unrelated.

The next question to address is whether there is any independent evidence for a PIE heterocliton

meaning, roughly, a swelling, internal organ, and/or a gland. Indeed, there is: in a number of IE

languages we find derivatives of this root, built with suffixes *-rV- and *-nV-, which are best

explained as generalizations of one stem of an original PIE heterocliton (cf., e.g., ON fr fire and

Goth.fn id., both from PIE *peh2wr / *puh2n-os fire, Hitt. pahhur, pehwena). These derivatives

include OHG eitar poison < PGerm. *aitra-, as well as Lith. jedr measles (probably originally

swellings),4which areparallel to PSl. *dro.A derivative from the same root with the suffix *-n- is

OIr. inne quality, manner, meaning, but more concretely also heart, bowels, interiorparts, which

probably represents the original meaning. In the case of Germanic *aitra- we assume that the meaning

poison developed from excretions of glands, cf. a similar development in PSl. jad poison, gall,

anger (OCSjad, Croat.jd, Russ.jad, Cz.jed, Pl.jad), which is from the same PIE root *h2eyd-.

On the other hand, OIr. inne can be regularly derived from PCelt. *inniy < *idny, from PIE *h2id-n-,

with the generalized stem of the oblique cases of the heterocliton *h2eydr / *h2idn-os.

It is at present unclear whether the Baltic river-names mentioned by Pokorny (Indus, Indura, Indra,

etc., IEW: 774) are indeed from the same root. Latv. idra faule Mark eines Baumes probably reflects

a hybrid *idr < *h2idreh2, but the absence of lengthening by Winters law (we would expect *dra) is

puzzling. The original accentuation of *dro is difficult to ascertain, and Derksen (150) does not

reconstruct it. The Croatian dialect forms do not agree: jdro (Standard tokavian),jdro(Novi), but

jdro (Grobnik). Original AP C cannot be excluded. PSl. *dro, on the other hand, belonged to AP B

(cf. Russ. jadr, Croat. jdro). This means that the proto-form did not undergo Win ters law, which

was blocked by a nasal.

REFERENCES

ESSJa = V. N. Trubaev (ed.),imologiekij loar' lajankix jazyko, Moscow 1974-.

Derksen = R. Derksen,Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Brill, Leiden

2008.

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The formjedr is probably originally a dialectal variant of *iedra with *ie regularly from BSl. *ay < PIE *h2ey.Such by-forms are well attested in Lithuanian, e.g. Lith. dial. jeva'Prunus Padus' besides (Standard) ieva (Illi-Svity 1963: 68).

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IEW = J. Pokorny,Indogermaniche eymologiche Wrerbuch, Bern: Francke 1959.

Illi-Svity, V. M.Imennaja akcentuacija v baltijskom i slavjanskom, Izdatelstvo AN SSSR, Moscow

1963.

LIV = H. Rix et alii,Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998.

Matasovi, Ranko 1998. The Proto-Indo-European Heteroclita in Balto-Slavic, Wiener Slavistisches

Jahrbuch44: 121-127.

Vasmer = M. Vasmer,Ruiche eymologiche Wrerbuch, Heidelberg 1953-1958.