Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/tъrgъ

Of unclear origin. According to some, connected with the word *toržìti (“to seek, look for”), cf Serbo-Croatian trážiti (“to trace”) from Proto-Slavic *tragъ, from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ-, a variation of *dʰregʰ- (“to pull, draw, drag”). Cognates include Latin trahō and Old Irish traig (“foot”). For a semantic parallel compare Hungarian keres (“to seek, look for”) : kereskedelem (“trade, commerce”).

The Latin place-name Tergeste (whence Italian Trieste), first attested around 100 BC (by the Greek geographer Artemidorus of Ephesus), possibly from Venetic, but with the typically Balkan suffix -est-, has often been derived from a *terg- which is speculated to mean "market" or "marketplace" and to be cognate with the Slavic lexeme.

*tъ̑rgъ m

1. merchandise, commodity, wares
2. (by extension) a place where trade is being done; market

• *tъrgovati
• *tъrgovьcь
• *tъrgovišče
• *tъržišče

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: търгъ (tŭrgŭ)
    • Belarusian: торг (torh)
    • Russian: торг (torg)
    • Ukrainian: торг (torh)
    • → Estonian: turg
    • → Finnish: turku
    • →? Ingrian: turu
    • → Latvian: tirgus
    • → Lithuanian: tur̃gus
    • → Old Norse: torg (“market”)
      • Danish: torv
      • Faroese: torg
      • Icelandic: torg
      • Norwegian: torg
      • Swedish: torg
      • → Finnish: tori
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: тръгъ (trŭgŭ)

    Glagolitic: ⱅⱃⱏⰳⱏ (trŭgŭ)

  • Bulgarian: търг (tǎrg)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: тр̏г

    Latin script: tȑg

  • Slovene: tȓg (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: trh
    • Czech: trh
  • Kashubian: tôrg
  • Old Polish: targ
    • Polish: targ
  • Slovak: trh
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: torhośćo
• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: târg

• Gluhak, Alemko (1993) “Proto-Slavic/tъrgъ”, in Hrvatski etimološki rječnik [Croatian Etymology Dictionary] (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: August Cesarec, →ISBN, page 637
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “торг”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Verweij, Arno (1994) “Quantity Patterns of Substantives in Czech and Slovak”, in Dutch Contributions to the Eleventh International Congress of Slavists, Bratislava (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics)‎, volume 22, Editions Rodopi B.V., page 536