Germanic-Slavic lexical parallels “das Eichhörnchen” (squirrel)- “веверица” (squirrel): etymology, diachrony, and current state

The research aims to identify the general phonetic-morphological and semantic characteristics of the Germanic-Slavic lexical parallels “das Eichhörnchen” (squirrel) and “веверица” (squirrel), based on the reconstruction of their diachronic developmental vectors from a single Indo-European archetype. Special attention is paid to the semantic transformations of the studied correlates as a significant factor in the presented linguistic reconstruction. The primary focus is to define the similarities, differences, and potential determinants (phonetic laws, morphological typological features, and cultural contexts of usage) within the structure and functioning of these correlates. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the application of a comprehensive approach to the diachronic comparison of lexical units in distantly related languages, integrating data from onomastics, dialectology, phraseology, historical phonetics, and grammar. The chosen strategy of utilizing a broad spectrum of linguistic knowledge to interpret phonomorphological patterns allowed for an inventory of both new and lost linguistic characteristics in the compared Germanic and Slavic lexical systems, thereby refining the scientific data available to contemporary comparative linguistics. The analysis results demonstrate how these lexical parallels evolved from a single Indo-European source in the Germanic and Slavic traditions and clarify their position within the linguocultural concepts of the respective ethnic groups. It was established that the studied correlates exhibit convergent preservation of the Proto-Indo-European root core despite divergent phonetic-morphological evolution.