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.',1 Bulg. jedr 'kernel')
and *dro 'bosom' (OCS jadra pl. 'bosom, embarce', Cz. adro 'breast, bosom', Pl. jadro 'net',
Croat. jdro 'sail', njdro 'bosom')2 from the same PIE root, *h2eyd- 'swell' (Gr. oid 'swell',
Arm. ait 'cheek', aitnum 'swell').3 However, 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. h par, h pa o , Lat. i cur, 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. anduo water <
*wodn-), so we have to posit the stems *aydr and *inda-. While they were still parts of the same

Croat. jdro is slightly archaic; in the contemprorary language it has been all but replaced by jzgra 'kernel,
core', with the cluster zgr- by analogy with mezgra 'core, sap of a tree'.
2
The forms with initial n- are from the syntagm *vn dra 'in(to) the bosom'. It is not quite clear whether PSl.
*dr 'strong, firm, solid' (OCS dri 'quick', Croat. jdar 'firm, solid', Bulg. dr 'big, strong', Derksen 157)
belongs together with *dro, but this is possible if one assumes the semantic development from 'having a strong
core' to 'firm, solid' and 'strong'.
3
Armenian vocalism shows that the initial laryngeal was *h 2- rather than *h3-. The Greek form is explainable by
positing a PIE intensive or causative *h2oyd-eye-, cf. LIV 230.

nominal paradigm, the Nom./Acc. stem influenced the stem of the oblique cases, which was re-shaped
as *indra-, and this was then the origin of the separate noun meaning kernel, core (> 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),4 which are parallel 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, interior parts, 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 (OCS jad, 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 Winters law, which
was blocked by a nasal.

REFERENCES

ESSJa = V. N. Trubaev (ed.), imologie kij lo ar' la jan kix jazyko , Moscow 1974-.
Derksen = R. Derksen, Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Brill, Leiden
2008.
The form jedr is probably originally a dialectal variant of *iedra with *ie regularly from BSl. *ay < PIE *h 2ey.
Such by-forms are well attested in Lithuanian, e.g. Lith. dial. jeva 'Prunus Padus' besides (Standard) ieva (IlliSvity 1963: 68).
4

IEW = J. Pokorny, Indogermani che e ymologi che Wr erbuch, 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
Jahrbuch 44: 121-127.
Vasmer = M. Vasmer, Ru i che e ymologi che Wr erbuch, Heidelberg 1953-1958.