There are differing suggestions on the origin of this term, the most likely of which is to derive it from Proto-Indo-European *der-, *dor- (“to tear, to peel, to pluck, to slice”) (whence also dergties (“to feel disgusted”), q.v.), with an extra gʰ, from which Proto-Baltic *darg- > *dargs > dārgs (with lengthening from the intonation on -àr- > -ā̀r). The original meaning could have been “which got torn, became unpleasant” (compare Lithuanian dargùs (“disgusting, unpleasant”), Latvian derdzīgs (“hideous”)) > “unpleasantly high (price, reward)” > “expensive, having high value, valuable”, from which metaphorically “dear, beloved”. Note that the “beloved” meaning is relatively recent: it is not typical of old folkloric language. Other scholars, however, derive dārgs from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold, to prop, to support”). A third suggestion is that this stem is a Slavic innovation (with “dear, beloved” as the original meaning), from which it was borrowed into Baltic. Cognates include Proto-Slavic *dorgъ (“expensive, dear, beloved”) (Old Church Slavonic драгъ (dragŭ), Russian дорого́й (dorogój), Belarusian дарагі́ (darahí), Ukrainian дороги́й (dorohýj), Bulgarian драг (drag), Czech drahý, Polish drogi).