Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/duma

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

Traditionally viewed (per Miklošič, Ulhenbeck, Berneker) as a Germanic borrowing, ultimately from (some derivative of) Proto-Germanic *dōmaz (“judgement”), perhaps a deverbal of *dumati (“to think”).

Attempts for native etymology include:

• Mladenov, Stender-Petersen: From Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke”), akin to Proto-Slavic *duti (“to blow, to inflate”), *dymъ (“smoke”), perhaps originally meaning “breath, spirit”. Compare Ancient Greek θῡμός (thūmós, “soul, emotion”), occasionally also “thought, mind”.
• Vaillant: Contracted from hypothetical *douma < *do- +‎ *umъ (“mind”) +‎ *-a. Compare *douměti (“to comprehend”) (whence Russian надоу́мить (nadoúmitʹ, “to advise”)).
• Machek: From an inversion of root *mewHdʰ-, otherwise yielding Proto-Slavic *myslь (“thought”), Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, fable”).

Fick tentatively compares the Slavic word with Phrygian δουμος (doumos) (of dubious meaning), Ancient Greek θαῦμᾰ (thaûma, “wonder, miracle”) (< pre-Hellenic *dʰeh₂w-), based on phonetic similarities.

Noun

*dùma f

1. breath, breathing
2. (uttered) word
3. advice, council
4. thought

Declension

Declension of *dùma (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*dùma	*dùmě	*dùmy
genitive	*dùmy	*dùmu	*dùmъ
dative	*dùmě	*dùmama	*dùmamъ
accusative	*dùmǫ	*dùmě	*dùmy
instrumental	*dùmojǫ, *dùmǭ**	*dùmama	*dùmamī
locative	*dùmě	*dùmu	*dùmasъ, *dùmaxъ*
vocative	*dùmo	*dùmě	*dùmy

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Derived terms

• *dumica, *dumъka (diminutive)
• *dumьcь (“prater”)

Descendants

• Church Slavonic: дума (duma) (Russian)

• East Slavic: дума (duma, “advice, council; thought, intention; like-minded persons”), Дума (Duma)
  • Belarusian: ду́ма (dúma, “thought”)
  • Russian: ду́ма (dúma, “thought”)
    • → Bulgarian: дума (duma)
    • → Buryat: дүүмэ (düüme)
    • → Chinese: 杜馬／杜马 (dùmǎ)/杜马 (dùmɑ̌)
    • → English: duma
    • → Finnish: duuma
    • → Finnish: tuuma
    • → Macedonian: дума (duma)
    • ⇒ Mongolian: дум (dum)
    • → Romanian: dumă
    • → Yakut: дума (duma)
  • Ukrainian: ду́ма (dúma, “thought; epic song”)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: ду́ма (dúma, “word, thought”)
  • Macedonian: dial. дума (duma, “thought”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ду̏ма (“(secret) thought; speech; mind, reason, memory”)

    Latin script: dȕma

• West Slavic:
  • Polish: duma (“pride, self-esteem, arrogance”)
  • Slovak: duma (“thinking, reasoning”)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Latvian: duõma (“thought”)

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “дума”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*duma”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 154
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “дума”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 446