On 2007-06-30 17:07, tgpedersen wrote:
> Do you mean ChSl kotUka, Russ kotI?
It's *kotU, actually. Slavic also has *kotiti (seN) 'bear offspring' (of
various animals including cats but also e.g. sheep and goats, and in
Modern Polish even aquarium fishes), hence *kotIna (f.) 'pregnant'. Cf.
Lat. catulus 'whelp, piglet, puppy, etc.' Perhaps the *kat- root
originally referred to young pets.
Piotr