Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/polmy

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *palmōns, from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁-men-, from *pelh₁- (to burn; ash-gray). Morphologically *pol- +‎ *-my.[1]

Cognate with Lithuanian pelenai̇̃ (ashes), plė́nis (speck, fine ashes), Latvian plẽne (white ashes on coals) and Old Prussian pelanne (ashes). See *paliti (to burn) for further potential cognates.

Noun

*pòlmy m[1]

  1. flame

Declension

Declension of *pòlmy (n-stem, accent paradigm a)
singular dual plural
nominative *pòlmy *pòlmeni *pòlmene
genitive *pòlmene *pòlmenu *pòlmenъ
dative *pòlmeni *pòlmenьma *pòlmenьmъ
accusative *pòlmenь *pòlmeni *pòlmeni
instrumental *pòlmenьmь *pòlmenьma *pòlmenьmī
locative *pòlmene *pòlmenu *pòlmenьxъ
vocative *pòlmy *pòlmeni *pòlmene

Descendants

An n-stem is unambiguously attested in the majority of Slavic languages, including importantly Old Church Slavonic. The East Slavic languages reflect an extended neuter n-stem *polymę or (for Ukrainian) *polumę instead. Russian borrowed the OCS form but converted it into a neuter n-stem as well. The modern Bulgarian form, although clearly related, has a different suffix, reflecting *polmъkъ.

Further reading

  • Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “пламя”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Derksen, Rick (2008) “*pòlmy”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 411:m. n (a) ‘flame’
  2. ^ Izmail Sreznevsky. Materials for the Dictionary of the Old Russian Language on the Basis of Written Records.
  3. ^ Andrey Zaliznyak. Drevnenovgorodskij dialekt. Jazyki slavjanskoj kul'tury: Moskva. 2004. page 39-40