On Etymology of Proto-Slavic Word for ‘Wound’

The paper is devoted to a critical analysis of the traditional etymology of the Proto-Slavic word with the meaning ‘wound’ (OCS ‘рана’ πληγή, μάστιξ; Bulgarian ‘ра́на’; Serbocroatian ‘ра̏на’, Russian ‘рана’ etc.). Researchers usually compare it to OInd. vraṇá- ‘wound, ulcer’ and Alb. varrë ‘wound’. It is demonstrated that this etymology is unacceptable from a formal point of view. Therefore, it is proposed to return to the idea of P. Persson who connected the Proto-Slavic ‘wound’ to the Proto-Indo-European root * h 2 erH- ‘to destroy’ and the following cognates in other branches of PIE: Hett. ḫarrai ‘grinds’; Toch. AB ār , pret. B āra ‘to stop, to cease’ and Proto-Slavic * oriti ‘to destroy, to ruin’. In this case the Proto-Slavic reconstruction is * őrna .