Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/emela

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

Alternative forms

• *jemela, *jьmela
• perhaps masculine forms in -ъ or neuter ones in -o

Etymology

From a Proto-Balto-Slavic term with uncertain vowels and ending, reflected as Old Prussian emelno f, Lithuanian ãmalas, ẽmalas, Latvian āmulis, āmuls, amuls, āmals, amùolis, amuols, ȩmuols, and by toponymy for other Baltic languages as well as Dacian *amalas (“mistletoe”); of obscure origin, speculated a borrowing from such a Trümmersprache.

Noun

*emela f

1.  mistletoe

Inflection

Declension of *emela (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*emela	*emelě	*emely
genitive	*emely	*emelu	*emelъ
dative	*emelě	*emelama	*emelamъ
accusative	*emelǫ	*emelě	*emely
instrumental	*emelojǫ, *emelǫ**	*emelama	*emelami
locative	*emelě	*emelu	*emelasъ, *emelaxъ*
vocative	*emelo	*emelě	*emely

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: омела (omela), имела (imela)
    • Belarusian: аме́ла́ (amjélá), амяла́ (amjalá), емяла́ (jemjalá); amieła
    • Russian: оме́ла (oméla)
    • Ukrainian: оме́ла́ (omélá), іме́ла (iméla), вимела (vymela), гемела (hemela), гемело (hemelo), вомена (vomena), обмила (obmyla), оміла (omila), помело (pomelo), єлим (jelym), єлом (jelom), ямела (jamela)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: имела (imela)
  • Bulgarian: и́мел (ímel), и́мело (ímelo), и́мела (ímela), и́мала (ímala)
  • Macedonian: имела (imela)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ѝмела, имѐла, мѐла

    Latin script: ìmela, imèla, mèla

    Chakavian Serbo-Croatian: òmela

  • Slovene: oméla, imȇla, méla (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: jmelé, jmela
    • Czech: jmelí, jmélí, jimelí, omelí, melí, mélí, jmel, jmela, jemela, jemelo, jamel
  • Old Polish: jemioła f, jemioł m
    • Polish: jemioła f, jemiel m, jamioła f, imioła f
  • Slovak: imelo, omelo, jemalo, jemelo, emalo, jamelo
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: jemjel
    • Lower Sorbian: jemjoł

Further reading

• Derksen, Rick (2015) Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 54
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1979), “*emela, *emelo, *emelъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 6 (*e – *golva), Moscow: Nauka, page 26
• Udolph, Jürgen (1994) Namenkundliche Studien zum Germanenproblem (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde; 9) (in German), Berlin / New York: Walter de Gruyter, →DOI, →ISBN, page 250
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “омела”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress