Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xvostъ

From a dubious root + *-stъ. Proposed etymologies include:

• From Proto-Indo-European *ksew- (“to scrape, to trim”), akin to Proto-Slavic *xusta (“neckpiece, headscarf”).
• From Proto-Indo-European *keh₂w- (“to waver, to flicker”), akin to Latin cauda (“tail”), possibly Lithuanian kuõdas (“tuft”). Favoured by Mladenov.

Sometimes compared with Proto-Germanic *kwastuz (“tassel”) (as per Machek, Sławski, Vaillant), even though formally incompatible.

*xvȍstъ m[1][2]

1. bundle, sheaf
2. tail (bundle of hair)

   Synonyms: *rěpъ, *kystь

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• *xvostati (“to lash, to gush”)
• *xvosta (collective)
• *xvostьcь (diminutive)
• *xvostuxa (“animal with fluffy tail”)
• *xvoščь (“bunch, cluster; snake grass (plant)”)
• *xvostatъ (relative adjective)

• *xvastъ (“boast”)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: хвостъ (xvostŭ)
    • Belarusian: хвост (xvost)
    • Russian: хвост (xvost)
    • Ukrainian: хвіст (xvist)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: хвостъ (xvostŭ)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: хо̏ст, ху̑ст (dialectal)

    Latin script: hȍst, hȗst (dialectal)

  • Slovene: hȏst (tonal orthography), hvọ̑st
    • ⇒ Slovene: họ̑sta f
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: chvost
    • Czech: chvost, chůst
  • Polish: chwost
  • Slovak: chvost

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “хвост”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. & suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*xvostъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), issue 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 133