Animals sacrificed as part of the religious rituals in Serbia are not picked at random and seem to be in sync with the sequence of animals on zodiac solar wheel. I talked about this in my post "Sacrificial animals".
Animals were in Serbia not just sacrificed during religious celebrations. Every new build required a blood sacrifice. A lamb or a cockerel was slaughtered on the foundation stone as well as on the walls just before the roof was put up. I talked about this in my posts "New house" and "Mountain Serbs from Montenegro".
This blood sacrifice is known as "krvavljenje" (blood spilling), Serbian "krv" (blood). The word "okrvaviti" means to "spill blood on something", to "stain with blood", like in this ritual performed on Rooster day in Bulgaria when house walls are smeared with cockerel blood for protection.
These blood spilling sacrificial rituals are in the Balkans also known as "kurban", which means "victim, sacrifice". Official etymology: from Ottoman Turkish "kurban", from Arabic قُرْبَان (qurbān).
Arabic "qurbān" (sacrifice to God, sacrificial animal, victim) comes from Aramaic "qurbānā" (offering, oblation, sacrifice, Eucharist, gift).
This is an Aramaic amulet depicting Abraham’s Sacrifice of Issac
Aramaic "qurbānā" is related to Hebrew "qorbān (ritual sacrifice, as of an animal, victim). Etymology: from Proto-Semitic.
This is a four-horned altar, 9th-8th centuries B.C.E. Beersheba, southern Israel. Interestingly it looks very much like Minoan altar...
The proposed Semitic root is "qrb" (Hebrew: קרב) meaning "be near". It produces Hebrew "qorbān" (sacrifice), "qarov" (close), "qerovim" (relatives) and Akkadian "aqribtu" (act of offering)
Slavic word "krv" comes from Proto-Indo-European "kréwh₂" meaning blood outside the body (as of a wound).
The descendants are found in most Indoeuropean languages where they mean "blood, dead body, meet, raw, gore"
Sanskrit क्रविस् (kravis) - raw, fresh, carrion
Ancient Greek: κρέας (kréas) - flesh, meet, carcass, body
Germanic: hrawaz - raw, uncooked
Italic: *krowoðos - blood, gore, murder
Balto-Slavic: *krowjos - blood
Celtic: krowos - blood
Now what is very interesting is that the only Indoeuropeand languages which have preserved the original root "KRV" meaning blood are Serbian, Croatian and Macedonian.
All the other Indoeuropean languages have altered the root because they could not pronounce it. I see this happening today when foreigners try to pronounce Serbian words which consist of only hard consonants.
So they inserted vowel to separate KR and V. So KRV became KRAV or KROV or KRUV. They also replaced difficult to pronounce V with W and then with U and I. So KRV became KROW, KRU, KRI. Or they replaced difficult to pronounce K with H so KRV became HRAW, RAW.
Sanskrit क्रविस् (kravis) - raw, fresh, carrion (krv -> kr(a)v + is)
Ancient Greek: κρέας (kréas) - flesh, meet, carcass, body (krv -> kr(ea)w -> kre + s)
Germanic: hrawaz - raw, uncooked (krv -> kr(a)w -> hr(a)w -> raw)
Italic: *krowoðos - blood, gore, murder (krv -> kr(o)w -> kru)
Balto-Slavic: *krowjos - blood (krv -> kr(o)w -> kroy)
Celtic: krowos - blood (krv -> kr(o)w -> kr(u)w -> kru)
Ancient Greek: κρέας (kréas) - flesh, meet, carcass, body (krv -> kr(ea)w -> kre + s)
Germanic: hrawaz - raw, uncooked (krv -> kr(a)w -> hr(a)w -> raw)
Italic: *krowoðos - blood, gore, murder (krv -> kr(o)w -> kru)
Balto-Slavic: *krowjos - blood (krv -> kr(o)w -> kroy)
Celtic: krowos - blood (krv -> kr(o)w -> kr(u)w -> kru)
And here is the million dollar question: How did this PIE root "KRV" meaning blood find its way into Proto-Semitic languages? And when did it happen? And why is it only preserved in South Slavic languages, which are, according to the official linguistics, the youngest Indoeuropean languages?