Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/krъtъ

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to crook”) + *-ъtъ, related to Lithuanian kertùs (“shrew”) and perhaps Proto-Slavic *čьrtъ (“evil creature”).

May have been coined as an alternative to Proto-Balto-Slavic *kúrmis (“mole”) (whence Latvian kur̃mis, Lithuanian kùrmis) in order to avoid confusion with unrelated Proto-Slavic *kъrmъ (“fodder, nutrient”).

*krъ̀tъ m[1]

1. mole (burrowing mammal of the family Talpidae)

• *krъtica, *krъtina
• *krъtovina (“lump of earth”)

• *kъrtiti (“to peck, to trash”)
• *krъtovъ (“hectic, leaky”)
• *krъtogъ (“hole, burrow”)
• *kryti (“to cover, to conceal”)
• *krovъ (“roof”)

• East Slavic: кротъ (krotŭ), крътъ (krŭtŭ)
  • Belarusian: крот (krot)
  • Russian: крот (krot)
  • Ukrainian: кріт (krit)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: крътъ (krŭtŭ)

  • Bulgarian: крът m (krǎt), кърти́ца f (kǎrtíca)
  • Macedonian: крт m (krt), кртица f (krtica)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: кр̀тица

    Latin script: kr̀tica

  • Slovene: kȓt
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: krt
    • Czech: krt, krtek
  • Kashubian: kret
  • Polabian: korťĕtüc
  • Polish: kret
  • Slovak: krt
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: kšet
    • Upper Sorbian: knot

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: cârtiță

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “крот”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*krъtъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 57
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “къртица”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 218
• “kertus”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012