Семантика праславянского слова *žiwotъ и его континуантов

The article aims to analyse the change in somatic meanings of continuants of the Proto-Slavic word *žiwotъ and answer the question whether *žiwotъ designated a part of the body as early as in the Proto-Slavic period. The basic somatic meanings of descendants of *žiwotъ found in the contemporary idioms are 'body', 'torso', 'stomach', 'waist', 'womb' and 'sex organs'. However, none of those meanings can be projected onto the proto-level with certainty. At the same time, in the modern Germanic languages (except English) continuants of Proto-German *lībą 'life' have developed somatic meanings which correspond to the Slavic ones. Descendants of Latin vita 'life' have followed the described pattern in Italian, Ladin and Romansh. The author puts forward a hypothesis that at least some meanings of the continuants of Proto-Slavic *žiwotъ could have appeared as a result of contacts with the Germanic and Romance languages.