Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/skoba

• *sъkoba^[1]

Main proposals:

• Meillet, Leskien: Related to dialectal Russian ко́бень (kóbenʹ, “hook”), Lithuanian sánkaba/sùkaba (“clasp”), kabė (“clasp”), kablỹs (“hook”) (from Lithuanian kabėti (“to hang”)), Latvian kablis (“hook”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kebʰ- (“to hook, to hold, to fasten”). Further akin to Sanskrit स्कम्भ (skambhá, “pole”) (with nasal infix).
• Miklošič, Uhlenbeck: From Proto-Indo-European *(s)keb- (“to shape”), *(s)kemb- (“to bend”), related to Proto-Germanic *skapą (“shape”), *humpaz (“hump”), Latin scamnum (“bench”), Ancient Greek κόμβος (kómbos, “node”), Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly Proto-Germanic *skup- (“barn, shop”).
• Less likely from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to scratch, to carve”), related to Proto-Slavic *skobľь, *skobľa (“cutting tool, scraper”), Lithuanian skabýti (“to delve”). Further related to Ancient Greek σκᾰ́φος (skắphos, “hull of a ship”), σκάφη (skáphē, “bowl, tube”), Latin scobis (“wood chip”). Compare dialectal Bulgarian ско́ба (skóba, “wide chisel”), Romanian scoabă (“adze”) (a Slavic borrowing).

*skobà f^[1]

1. bracket, shackle, cramp
2. clasp, buckle

• *skobъka, *skobica (diminutive)
• *skoblъ, *skobla (“clasp”)

• *skobľati (“to carve, to delve with a tool”)
• *ščebьňь (“gravel, rubble”)
• *xobotъ (“proboscis”)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: scoabă (“crampon”)
  • → Hungarian: eszkába

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “скоба”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (2002), “скоба¹”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 6 (пỳскам – словàр²), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 760
• “kabėti”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012