Talk:žalfija
Latest comment: 1 year ago by 178.4.151.236
The initial /ʒ/ surprises me. Is that common for Italian /s/? It could be a "voice metathesis" /ʃalvija/ > /ʒalfija/. Otherwise I'd suggest it to be from Middle High German "salveie" rather than Italian. MHG ‹s› was a mostly voiced sound, which often yielded Slavic /ʒ/. Czech šalvěj, Russian шалфей are also from MHG. 178.4.151.236 11:11, 30 December 2022 (UTC)