# All Slavic languages: Κοτέτσι (henhouse, Greek word supposedly with Slavic etymology)



## apmoy70

Hi, friends,
I have a problem to solve and I ask for your help. There's this noun in Modern Greek, «κοτέτσι» (ko'tetsi, _neuter noun_) which describes the henhouse, hennery in colloquial language. According to both the Triantafyllidis & Babiniotis dictionary, _«κοτέτσι»_ is a Slavic loanword. My problem is that I can't verify that this word is indeed a Slavic one. 
Help....please?

(Thanks in advance)


----------



## DenisBiH

apmoy70 said:


> Hi, friends,
> I have a problem to solve and I ask for your help. There's this noun in Modern Greek, «κοτέτσι» (ko'tetsi, _neuter noun_) which describes the henhouse, hennery in colloquial language. According to both the Triantafyllidis & Babiniotis dictionary, _«κοτέτσι»_ is a Slavic loanword. My problem is that I can't verify that this word is indeed a Slavic one.
> Help....please?
> 
> (Thanks in advance)




Just a wild guess - there was a (dialectal, according to Skok*) Slavic noun *kǫtja (BCS kuća "house", and according to GT, Bulgarian къща, Macedonian куќа with the same meaning) with the original meaning (according to Skok) of "hearth, (family) hiding/resting place". The -etsi ending sounds somewhat like a Slavic diminutive (but I don't speak Greek so I don't know it it has a function there as well). If there is any relationship, the Greek kotetsi would be parallel to BCS kućica "little house". The development in meaning wouldn't be too strange, we have "pseća kućica" in BCS today meaning "doghouse", but I'm not sure if it would fit into the time-line of Slavic sound changes.

Henhouse in literary BCS is kokošinjac, not related to kuća.

* Petar Skok, Etymological dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian language


----------



## bibax

OCS: kotьcь (it is in Latin script, only ь is the soft yer);

Czech: kotec (pron. 'kotets) = cot/cote (for animals); also booth (on a market);

BCS: kotac;


----------



## Azori

Slovak:

koterec = hutch, cote (for animals)


----------



## vianie

> Slovak:
> 
> koterec = hutch, cote (for animals)


+

*kutica* (colloquially *kamrlík*) - a small, usually dark uncomfortable room​


----------



## werrr

vianie said:


> *kutica* (colloquially *kamrlík*)


*Kamrlík* comes clearly from German *Kämmerlein*.


----------



## Azori

vianie said:


> *kutica* (colloquially *kamrlík*) - a small, usually dark uncomfortable room


Kutica is colloquial as well.


----------



## Maroseika

Common Slavic *kоčеtъ - cock. Maybe this one is the soruce for all these words.


----------



## apmoy70

Thank you for your answers so far. Maroseika your *kоčеtъ - cock reminds me of the _masculine noun _«κόττος» ('kottos) which described the cock/rooster in Hellenistic Greek (according to Hesychius of Alexandria). This noun appears also as «κότος» (the second tau is often omitted) in Byzantine Greek.


----------



## bibax

I thought that cock/rooster was *kokotъ* in OCS/Common Slavic, a variant form is *kogutъ* (> Czech/Slovak kohút; kokot is now a common slang word for pennis).

According to my dictionary *kotec* (< *kotьcь*) is diminutive of *kotъ* which is related to English cot/cote, Old French cote (> coterie), German Kotter = a small building or booth.


----------



## DenisBiH

> According to my dictionary *kotec* (< *kotьcь*) is diminutive of *kotъ* which is related to English cot/cote, Old French cote (> coterie), German Kotter = a small building or booth.


And Avestan _kata-_ "room" according to HJP.



> _prasl._ *kotьcь: mala štala, svinjac (_rus._ kotéc, _stpolj._ kociec) ≃ _avest._ kata-: soba


Btw, that was a good find bibax. I've personally never heard the BCS word _kotac_. You learn something new every day.


----------



## Orlin

DenisBiH said:


> Btw, that was a good find bibax. I've personally never heard the BCS word _kotac_. You learn something new every day.


 
Možda je specifično (ili pretežno) hrvatska?


----------



## DenisBiH

Orlin said:


> Možda je specifično (ili pretežno) hrvatska?




Može biti zbog toga, ili zato što označava seoski objekat. Možda i zbog toga jer se radi o terminu iz oblasti svinjogojstva. Ali nema ga ni u mojim rječnicima pa bi lako moglo biti to tvoje.


----------

