Reconstruction:Proto-Balto-Slavic/meigātei

Proto-Balto-Slavic

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Etymology

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From Proto-Indo-European *h₃meygʰ- (fog, mist; to drizzle).[1]

The Baltic forms denote "sleep", which Fraenkel considers to be a sense development from "to close one's eyes" (i.e. to blink). The exact development of the relation between "sleep" and "mist, drizzling" is unclear; however, this semantic association occurs multiple times with multiple roots across various Indo-European branches, so the "sleep" and "drizzle" senses are most likely related.[2] Perhaps mist and drizzle may be conceived of as a "blinking" of weather, in addition to overcast weather (which mist is associated with) being associated with sluggishness and lack of energy.

Verb

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*meigātei[1][3]

  1. to blink

Descendants

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  • Old Prussian: meicte (to sleep)
  • Latvian: mìeguôt (to be sleepy; to sleep)
  • Lithuanian: miegóti (to sleep)
  • Proto-Slavic: *migàti (to blink) (see there for further descendants)

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Derksen, Rick (2015) “miegoti”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 315:*meig-(/*moig-?)
  2. ^ Derksen, Rick (2015) “migla”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 317
  3. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008) “*migati”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 316:*meig-