имя

See also: има, имѧ, and ім'я

Contents

RussianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old East Slavic имѧ (imę), from Proto-Slavic *jьmę, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥

Cognates include English name, Old Prussian emmens, Sanskrit नामन् (nāman), Persian نام‏ (nâm), Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma), Latin nōmen

The so-called н-declension of this and nine other similar neuter nouns are remnants of sound changes that took place in Common Slavic due to the the Law of Open Syllables: a requirement that syllables could not have decreasing sonority. While Late Proto-Indo-European and Late Proto-Slavic had nasal diphthongs consisting of a vowel plus a nasal consonant (/m, n/), such syllables later violated the Law of Open Syllables in Common Slavic since a consonant is inherently less sonorous than a vowel and thus a nasal diphthong would have falling sonority. This problem was remedied by the transition of such nasal diphthongs into nasal vowels through a process of monophthongization. In Proto-Slavic, the nominative singular contained the syllable /mĕns/. After the loss of the final consonant, the remaining nasal diphthong, which violated the Law of Open Syllables, was reduced to a nasal vowel /ę/ represented by Ѧ, ѧ (little yus) in Old Church Slavonic and Late Proto-Slavic, eventually becoming word-final -я in modern Russian. In the oblique cases, because the /n/ sound appeared at the beginning of a syllable (due to all the oblique case endings beginning with a vowel), there was no nasal diphthong to violate the Law of Open Syllables and the -ен- was preserved before all the oblique case endings in the modern language. Compare the declension of Old Church Slavonic имѧ (imę).

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): [ˈimʲə]

• Audio

  (file)

NounEdit

и́мя • (ímja) n inan (genitive и́мени, nominative plural имена́, genitive plural имён)

1. name, first name, Christian name, given name (for inanimate things, see назва́ние (nazvánije))

   и́мя и о́тчество ― ímja i ótčestvo ― first name and patronymic

   Заво́д и́мени Ста́лина ― Zavód ímeni Stálina ― Stalin Automobile Plant

   и́мя при рожде́нии ― ímja pri roždénii ― birth name

2. (grammar) noun (broad sense)

   и́мя существи́тельное ― ímja suščestvítelʹnoje ― noun (narrow sense), substantive

   и́мя со́бственное ― ímja sóbstvennoje ― proper noun

   и́мя нарица́тельное ― ímja naricátelʹnoje ― appellative noun

   и́мя прилага́тельное ― ímja prilagátelʹnoje ― adjective

   и́мя числи́тельное ― ímja čislítelʹnoje ― numeral

DeclensionEdit

Declension of и́мя (inan neut-form 3rd-decl accent-c) 

	singular	plural
nominative	и́мя ímja	имена́ imená
genitive	и́мени ímeni	имён imjón
dative	и́мени ímeni	имена́м imenám
accusative	и́мя ímja	имена́ imená
instrumental	и́менем ímenem	имена́ми imenámi
prepositional	и́мени ímeni	имена́х imenáx

Pre-reform declension of и́мя (inan neut-form 3rd-decl accent-c) 

	singular	plural
nominative	и́мя ímja	имена́ imená
genitive	и́мени ímeni	имёнъ imjón
dative	и́мени ímeni	имена́мъ imenám
accusative	и́мя ímja	имена́ imená
instrumental	и́менемъ ímenem	имена́ми imenámi
prepositional	и́мени ímeni	имена́хъ imenáx

Derived termsEdit

• полуи́мя (poluímja)

Related termsEdit

• безымя́нный (bezymjánnyj)
• имени́ны (imeníny)
• имени́тельный (imenítelʹnyj)
• именитый (imenityj)
• именова́ть (imenovátʹ)
• и́менно (ímenno)
• именно́й (imennój)
• наименова́ние (naimenovánije)