Etymology

Usually derived from Proto-Baltic *šern-, *širn-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- ‎(“upper part (head, horns, vertex)”), with an extra -n (from which also German Horn, English horn, Latin cornū and also cervus ‎(“deer”)), which yielded Latvian archaic sirna. The presence of a t has given rise to various explanations: st- < *ts-; metathesis (sirna > *srina) with t epenthesis; contamination or influence from some other animal name, e.g., taurs; borrowing from a Slavic language with changes to conform to Baltic pronunciation. More recently, it has been suggested that stirna might come from Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‎(“red, pink”) in the reduced grade *sr̥-no-, causing t epenthesis in Baltic. Cognates include Lithuanian stìrna, Old Prussian sirwis, Proto-Slavic *sьrna (Old Church Slavonic сръна ‎(srŭna), Old East Slavic срьна ‎(srĭna), Russian серна ‎(sérna), Ukrainian сарна ‎(sarna), серна ‎(sárna, sérna), Bulgarian сърна ‎(sǎrna, “chamois”), Czech srna, Polish sarna ‎(“roe deer”)).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [stīɾna]