Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/męčь

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

Resultant noun from *męčati (“to squash, to knead”) +‎ *-jь.

Noun

*męčь m

1. ball, blob, bun

Declension

Declension of *mę̃čь (soft o-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mę̃čь	*mę̄čà	*mę̄čì
genitive	*mę̄čà	*mę̄čù	*mę̃čь
dative	*mę̄čù	*mę̄čèma	*mę̃čemъ
accusative	*mę̃čь	*mę̄čà	*mę̄čę̇̀
instrumental	*mę̄čь̀mь, *mę̄čèmь*	*mę̄čèma	*mę̃či
locative	*mę̄čì	*mę̄čù	*mę̃čixъ
vocative	*męču	*mę̄čà	*mę̄čì

^* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.

Derived terms

• *męčę, *męčikъ (diminutive)
• *męčьkъ (“squishy, mushy”)
• *męčьnъ (“squashed”)

Related terms

• *męča (“mush”)
• *mękotь (“soft part of a structure, flesh, pulp”)
• *mękyšь (“soft bread/cake”)
• *mękъkъ (“soft, smushy”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: мяч (mjač)
  • Russian: мяч (mjač)
  • Ukrainian: м'яч (mʺjač)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: меч (meč), ме́чка (méčka, “soft bun or loaf of bread”) (dialectal)
  • Slovene: mẹ̑č (tonal orthography) (obsolete)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: mieč
    • Czech: míč
      • Bohemian (Chod dialect): mlíć
    • → Old Polish: miecz
  • Old Polish: mięcz
  • Polabian: mąc

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Romanian: minge

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “мяч”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*męčь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 234