netopyr'ь

netopyr'ь Grammatical information: m. jo Proto-Slavic meaning: `bat'

Page in Trubačev: XXIV 143-145

Church Slavic:

netopyrь (RuCS) `bat' [m jo];

nepъtyrь (RuCS) `bat' [m jo]

Russian:

netopýr' `bat' [m jo], netopyrjá [Gens];

nétopyr' (dial.) `bat' [m jo]

Ukrainian:

netopýr `bat' [m o]

Czech:

netopýr `bat' [m o]

Old Czech:

netopýř `bat' [m o]

Slovak:

netopier `bat' [m o]

Polish:

nietoperz `bat' [m jo];

niedoperz `bat' [m jo]

Old Polish:

nietopyrz `bat' [m jo]

Upper Sorbian:

njetopyŕ `bat' [m o]

Slovene:

netopír `bat' [m jo], netopírja [Gens] \{1\}

Comments: What makes this etymon interesting, is the fact that it may contain *neto- < *nek^wto- `night', with e-grade as in Hitt. nekuz `at night'. Vaillant (Gr. I: 83, IV: 655) reconstructs original o-grade, however. The second element is often interpreted as *pyrь `flier', with a lengthened zero grade (-> *pariti, *pьrati). A reanalysis *ne-topyrь seems only possible for East Slavic (Ru. ne `not', topýrit' `bristle'). According to Vaillant (l.c.), *pyrь has replaced original *pirь under the influence of the suffix *-yrь, which originated in borrowings from Greek (cf. Ru. psaltýr').

Notes:

\{1\} Pleteršnik mentions a large number of variants: natopír, nadopę́r, matopír, matofír, letopír, latopír, dopír, dupír, nadopir (Meg. 1744).