Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/němъ

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

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Etymology

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  • From dissimilation of earlier *měmъ.
Compare Latvian mēms (dumb, mute, silent), Old Polish omienieć (to become dumb), Latin mūtus (mute, dumb, silent), Ancient Greek μῖμος (mîmos, mime, actor), German mummeln, English mumble, Swedish mumla.
Compare *ku- + *jьm-, *jьmǫ, *ęti > *kujьmъ (> Russian ку́и́м (kúím, deaf-mute; tongue-tied man; silent man;)). Latvian mēms is possibly borrowing from Slavic with assimilation n-m > m-m.

Adjective

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*němъ

  1. unclear or incomprehensible speaker, muttering, mammering
  2. dumb, mute (not able to speak)

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Other:

References

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  • Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “немой”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
  • Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “немой”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 568
  • Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1999), “*němъ(jь)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 25 (*neroditi – *novotьnъ(jь)), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 100