Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/kъňiga

There are multiple theories:

• Borrowed either from Old High German kenning (“symbol, sign”) or from a different Germanic source (compare Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (kunnan, “to know”) and Old Norse kunna (“to know”)).
• From Akkadian kunukkum (“seal-cylinder”) or kanīkum (“sealed object: document, sack bulla, etc.”), via Old Armenian կնիք (knikʿ, “seal”).
• Ultimate Chinese origin, from 卷 (Middle Chinese kɣiuᴇn^X, kɣiuᴇn^H < Old Chinese *krorʔ (“to roll up”), *kror-s (“scroll”)), as paper was invented in China around the 1st century AD. However, this seems less likely due to the likely temporal precedence of Proto-Slavic over Early Middle Chinese and the large spatial separation of the donor and recipient languages.
• Finally, Polish Slavicist Aleksander Brückner considers it to be a native word derived from Proto-Slavic *kъnъ (“trunk of a tree”) with the suffix -iga (compare Slovene veriga (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“tie”)). The sense development would thus be similar to German Buch and English book, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵos (“beech”), or to Latin liber, from earlier *luber, a cognate of Proto-Slavic *lubъ (“tree bark”).

The second and third theories require transmission by a Turkic or an Iranian language, but nothing is attested in them. Although sometimes cited, Chuvash кӗнеке (kĕnek̬e) and Ossetian чиныг (ḱinyg), киунугӕ (kiwnugæ) are both considered early Slavic loans. However, Hungarian könyv (“book”) and Erzya конёв (końov, “paper”), which are unlikely to derive from Slavic, testify to the early presence of this word in the Volga region.

*kъňìga f[1][2]

1. book

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• *kъňìžica

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: кънига (kŭniga), книга (kniga)
    • Old Ruthenian: кни́га (kníha)
      • Belarusian: кні́га (kníha)
      • Ukrainian: кни́га (knýha)
    • Russian: кни́га (kníga) (see there for further descendants)
    • → Ossetian: (Iron) чиныг (ḱinyg), (Digor) киунугӕ (kiwnugæ), кинугӕ (kinugæ)
    • → Erzya: кинига (kińiga)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: кън҄ига (kŭnʹiga)

    Glagolitic script: ⰽⱏⱀⰻⰳⰰ (kŭniga)

  • Bulgarian: кни́га (kníga)
  • Macedonian: книга (kniga)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: књи̏га

    Latin script: knjȉga

  • Slovene: knjíga (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Kashubian: knëga, knyga, knéga
  • Old Czech: kniha
    • Czech: kniha
  • Old Polish: księgi
    • Polish: księga
    • Silesian: ksiynga
  • Slovak: kniha
  • Slovincian: knega
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: knigła (archaic), knigły (plurale tantum)
    • Upper Sorbian: kniha

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Lithuanian: knygà

• Abajev, V. I. (1958) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume 1, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 596
• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1971–1979), “կնիք”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), volume 2, 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 609
• Berneker, Erich (1908–1913) Slavisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, page 664
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993), “книга”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volume 1 (а – пантомима), 3rd edition, Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 406
• Matzenauer, Antonín (1870) Cizí slova ve slovanských řečech [Foreign words in Slavic languages] (in Czech), Brno: Matica Moravská, page 43
• Tsyhanenko, H. P. (1989), “книга”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 2nd edition, Kyiv: Radjanska shkola, →ISBN
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “книга”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. & suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1987), “*kъniga”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), issue 13 (*kroměžirъ – *kyžiti), Moscow: Nauka, page 203