Abstract
The article deals with West Slavonic words on cud represented by verbs such as Old Czech
cúditi, Polish
cudzić or adjectives such as Czech
cudný, Polish
cudny,
czudny. These words are not etymologically clear, and the etymological dictionaries suggest different solutions, either considering these words as cognates or looking for other etymological connections. More light on the issue could be thrown by Old Church Slavonic
študь ‘custom, manners, morals’ which has not been taken into account so far while reflecting the etymologies of the abovementioned words. Old Church Slavonic word corresponds to older Czech
cud ‘discipline, good manners’ and this noun (in its late Proto Slavonic form) can be taken as a basis for the verb (Old Czech
cúditi etc.) in the meaning ‘to clean, brush, remove’ and the adjective (Czech
cudný etc.) in the meaning ‘chaste, modest, moral’. The Proto Slavonic root of the word can be reconstructed as *
tjud from Pre Slavonic *
teud which can be traced back to Indo European *
teuH ‘to protect, friendly give one’s mind to sb.’. Nominal derivatives of this root offer striking semantic parallels in Germanic: Old English
geđiede ‘good, decent, chaste’,
đēaw ‘custom, manners, morals’, Old High German, Old Saxon
thau ‘discipline’.
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