Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kъbьlъ

Cognate with Lithuanian kùbilas (“vat, tube”), Latvian kubls (“id.”), but the exact type of relationship is uncertain:

• If inherited, them probably from Proto-Indo-European *kubʰ- (“coiling, arching”) + *-ьlъ, whence Ancient Greek κοῦφος (koûphos, “elastic, nimble”). Less likely (for phonetic reasons) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewb- (“to mold, to distort”), whence Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos, “cube”), possibly Old Norse skop (“mockery”). Favoured by Mladenov.
• Miklošič, Berneker, Vasmer: Alternatively, borrowed from Old High German kūbilo (cf. modern German Kübel, Hungarian köböl), ultimately from Latin cūpula (“small cask”).

The Baltic terms could be Germanic or Slavic borrowings.

*kъbьlъ m

1. pail, keg

• *kъbъlъ, *kъbelъ
• *kubьlъ (certainly a Germanic borrowing)
  • Polish: kubeł

• *kubъ (“mug, beaker”)
• *čubъ (“crest”)

• *bъkъlъ (probably a blend of the current term and unrelated Latin baucālis (“bocal”))

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: къбьлъ (kŭbĭlŭ), къбелъ (kŭbelŭ)
    • Russian: кобел (kobel), кобл (kobl)
    • Ukrainian: кобе́л (kobél) (dialectal); гбол (hbol) (obsolete)
      • ⇒ Ukrainian: ко́блик (kóblyk) (dialectal)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:
    • Church Slavonic: къблъ (kŭblŭ) (Serbian); къбьлъ (kŭbĭlŭ) (Russian)
  • Bulgarian: къ́бъл (kǎ́bǎl)
  • Macedonian: кобел (kobel)
  • Old Serbo-Croatian: kabao, kabal
    • Serbo-Croatian:

      Cyrillic script: ка̀бао; ка̀бал (dialectal)

      Latin script: kàbao; kàbal (dialectal)

  • Slovene: kebèl, kábel, kóbel; kȏbel (dialectal)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: gbel, kbel; hbel (dialectal)
  • Old Polish: gbeł
    • Middle Polish: gbel
  • Old Slovak: gbel, kbel
    • Slovak: gbel; gbal (dialectal)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Albanian: kobel
  • → Greek: κούβελος (koúvelos), κουβέλι (kouvéli)

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kъbьlъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 171
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “кобел”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “къбъл”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 179