Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/meďa

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

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *medjas, *medjāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *medʰyeh₂.

Both of these are, ultimately, the feminine form of Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos.

Baltic cognates include Lithuanian mẽdis (“tree”), mẽdžias (“forest”), mẽdė (“forest”), Latvian mežs (“forest”), Old Prussian median (“forest”).

Indo-European cognates include Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya, “middle, located in the middle”), Latin medius (“middle”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis, “middle”), Ancient Greek μέσσος (méssos), μέσος (mésos, “middle of, between, amidst”), Old Irish mide (“medium”), Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ, “middle, midst; inside, interior”), Proto-Germanic *midjaz (“middle, mid”).

Noun

*meďà f

1. border, boundary, balk

Inflection

Declension of *meďà (soft a-stem, accent paradigm b)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meďà	*mèďi	*meďę̇̀
genitive	*meďę̇̀	*meďù	*mèďь
dative	*meďì	*meďàma	*meďàmъ
accusative	*meďǫ̀	*mèďi	*meďę̇̀
instrumental	*meďèjǫ, *mèďǫ**	*meďàma	*meďàmī
locative	*meďì	*meďù	*meďàsъ, *meďàxъ*
vocative	*meďe	*mèďi	*meďę̇̀

^* -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

• *meďu, *meďi (“between, among”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: межа (meža)
    • Belarusian: мяжа́ (mjažá)
    • Russian: межа́ (mežá)
    • Ukrainian: межа́ (mežá)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: межда (mežda)
  • Bulgarian: межда́ (meždá)
  • Macedonian: меѓа (meǵa)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: мѐђа

    Latin script: mèđa

  • Slovene: méja (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: mez
  • Polabian: midźă
  • Polish: miedza
  • Slovak: medza
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: mjaza
    • Upper Sorbian: mjeza

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “межа”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*medja”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 45