Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/melko
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
Uncertain:
- Borrowed from either Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌿𐌺𐍃 (miluks, “milk”) or Proto-West Germanic *meluk (“milk”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”) with unexpected 'u' (cp. *melkaną (“to milk”)).[1]
- Related to: *melzti (“to milk”), *melza, *melzivo and Tocharian A malke (“milk”), Tocharian B malkwer (“milk”), Old Irish melg n (“milk”), mlicht m (“milk”) : mligid (“to milk”), Welsh blith m (“milk”) and Proto-Samic *mielkkē (“milk”).
- (+) Proto-Indo-European palatovelar */ǵ/ is reflexed as centum and voiceless (inherited form would be **melzo or **melgo). See also Latin melca f, Ancient Greek μέλκᾱ f (mélkā).
- (∓) u > ъ is expected (per ESSJa: **mьlъcь, **mьlьčь). This would require an intermediary language that would drop the medial *-u- from Proto-Germanic word and thematicize the stem. But compare Old Church Slavonic срацини (sracini) : Latin Saracēnī.
- (–) Neuter gender of the Slavic word: loanwords rarely become neuter when they are borrowed into Proto-Slavic, and neuter donor words mainly become masculine or feminine.
- (–) per Oleg Trubačev: it belongs to the accent paradigm b. However, this argument is weak since the final stress goes back to earlier stem stress, which is not unlikely among the Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic.
- Per A. Brückner, Valentin Kiparsky: from Proto-Indo-European *melk-[2][3] or *melḱ-.
- Related to 1: *molka, *molkyta (> Serbo-Croatian mlȁka/мла̏ка (“pool, puddle”), Old East Slavic молокита (molokita, “swamp”) and Romanian mlacă (“swamp, marsh”), mlaștină (“swamp”)) and Lithuanian mal̃kas (“swallow (gulp)”), Latvian màlks, màlka.
- Related to 2: Russian мо́лость (mólostʹ, “bad weather”)[4]
- Related to 1/2: Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌷𐌼𐌰 (milhma, “cloud”), possibly Ancient Greek μέλκιον (mélkion), Latin mulceō
- This etymology has been criticized as semantically far-fetched.
Compare milk names:
- Old Prussian dadan (“milk”)[5] : ?
- Lithuanian pi̇́enas m (“milk”) : mélžti (“to milk”), Sanskrit पयस् n (payas, “milk”) : ?, Proto-Finnic *piimä (“milk”) (also Proto-Finnic *maito (“milk”)).
- Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšiHrám n (“milk”) : ?, Albanian hirrë f (“whey”)
- Ancient Greek γάλα n (gála, “milk”), γάλακτος (gálaktos, Gsg.) : ἀμέλγω (amélgō, “I milk”), Latin lac n (“milk”), lactis (Gsg.) : mulgeō (“I milk”)
- Albanian tambël m (“milk, whey”) (< ëmbël (“sweet”)) : mjel (“I milk”). See also Proto-Indo-European *mélit n (“honey”), *médʰu n.
Noun
Declension
| singular | |
|---|---|
| nominative | *mēlkò |
| genitive | *mēlkà |
| dative | *mēlkù |
| accusative | *mēlkò |
| instrumental | *mēlkъ̀mь, *mēlkòmь* |
| locative | *mēlcě̀ |
| vocative | *mēlkò |
* -ъmь in North Slavic, -omь in South Slavic.
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- South Slavic:
- West Slavic:
Further reading
- Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q., editors (1997), “milk”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 381
- Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia E. (2013) The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic[2], Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 197f
- Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*melko”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 84
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “молоко”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
- Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986) “M66. *miluks”, in A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the 3rd ed. of Feist’s dictionary, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 256
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Derksen, Rick (2008) “*melkò”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 307: “n. o (b) ‘milk’”
- ^ Chernykh, P. Ja. (1999) “молоко”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 540
- ^ Chernykh, P. Ja. (1999) “молозиво”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 540
- ^ Филин, Ф. П., editor (1982), “молость”, in Slovarʹ russkix narodnyx govorov [Dictionary of Russian Dialects] (in Russian), volume 18, Leningrad: Nauka, Leningrad branch, page 238
- ^ Vladimir Toporov (1975) “dadan”, in Vyacheslav Ivanov, editor, Прусский язык [Old Prussian language] (in Russian), volume 1, Nauka, page 284
- ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “melko”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “b mælk (SA 177; PR 135)”
