Cognate Set 5195 – Meaning: do

IE-CoR reference form:
*gʷeh₂-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
The etymology of this root is not entirely clear.
The hypothesis about a borrowing from Gothic is rather speculative because the Gothic form *gataws itself is not attested and only reconstructed (as a nominal derivative of gataujan 'fulfil, act, accomplish') ESSJa. The Albanian gat 'ready' etc. is most probably a loan from Slavic Orel 1998, note also a suspiciously similar set of meanings ESSJa here.
The idea about a derivation of the Slavic lexemes from PIE *gʷeh₂- 'walk, go' with a semantic development '(get) ready to go, prepare(d) for a journey' > '(get) ready, prepare(d)' (> 'do, make') has good IE parallels (cf. German bereit and fertig with secondary derivatives as vorbereiten, zubereiten 'prepare, make', anfertigen 'make', English ready). An issue is that the meaning 'go' is hardly (if ever) attested in Slavic. Its hypothetical traces in Old Russian are very sparse and not unambiguous: negotovami dorogami 'untrodden roads'. However, this etymology seems to be reasonable and is adopted here.
Found in clades:
Slavic
Revised by:
Lechosław Jocz
Found in 1 clade by 1 lexeme.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
95   Sorbian: Lower gótowaś ˈɡɛtowɑ̈ɕ, ˈɡɘ̟towɑ̈ɕ ˈɡotowaɕ Also 'prepare'.
References
  • Bezlaj, France: 165
    It has been linked to PIE *gā- 'go'. An idea about a borrowing from Gothic gataws 'ready' is less probable.
  • Boryś, W.: 175
    PS *gotovŭ has no certain further etymology.
  • Orel, Vladimir: 111
    Albanian "gat 'ready', gati id. are secondary formations based on the verb which is an early Slavic loanword, from *gotovati, *gotoviti".
  • Rejzek, Jiří: 211
    PS *gotovŭ is etymologically obscure. It can be related to Albanian gat 'ready' if the latter is not a borrowing from Slavic. It can be derived from PIE *gʷā- 'go'.
  • Rix, Helmut: 205
    *gʷeh₂- 'step, go'.
  • Schuster-Šewc, H.: 334
    The etymology is hard to ascertain. The hypothesis linking it to PIE *gʷa- 'go, come' should be taken into account.
  • Snoj, Marko:
    The Slavic lexeme *gotovŭ is probably derived from PIE *gʷah₂- 'go, walk' (*gʷah₂-te/ou̯-) with a primary meaning 'ready to go', cf. German bereit and reiten, fertig and fahren. A hypothesis about borrowing from Gothig gataws 'ready' is less probable.
  • Trubačev, O. N.: 7: 70-72
    PS *gotovŭ 'ready' is derived from PIE *gʷā̆- 'go', from a supine *gʷătu > *ɡotŭ. Cf. German bereit and reiten, fertig and fahren, English ready and ride. Traces of the meaning 'go' in PS *gotovŭ 'ready' seem to be attested in Old Russian.
  • Vasmer, Max: 1: 448-449
    The Slavic lexeme is related to Albanian gat 'ready'. The Albanian cognate shows that the Slavic lexeme can not be a borrowing from Gothic *gataws.