Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/xmara

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

  • *xmura (probably)

Etymology

Uncertain:

  • Per Vasmer, Trubachev (ESSJa): From contamination of original *xmura and *para (“vapor”) or *mara (“dusk, illusion, mirage”). The former is sometimes compared with Ancient Greek ἀμαυρός (amaurós, “dark, dull”).
  • Per Gudkov (EIRJa): From dissimilation of an earlier *tьmora/*tьmara → *kmara → *xmara, cognate with Proto-Slavic *tьma (“darkness”).
  • If the original meaning of the word was more concerned with the shape rather than with the hue of the cloud (as in English cloud < Old English clūd (“boulder, rocky mass”)), then possibly from an ō-grade of Proto-Indo-European *kh₂mer- (“to curve, to distort”). Compare Ancient Greek κᾰμᾰ́ρᾱ (kămắrā, “vault, heap, mass”).

Noun

*xmàra f[1]

  1. dusky, dark billow
  2. dark cloud
    Synonym: *tǫča
  3. incoherent mass → swarm (of insects), covey (of birds), crowd (of people)

Inflection

Declension of *xmara (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)
singular dual plural
nominative *xmara *xmàrě *xmàry
genitive *xmàry *xmàru *xmàrъ
dative *xmàrě *xmàrama *xmàramъ
accusative *xmàrǫ *xmàrě *xmàry
instrumental *xmàrojǫ, *xmàrǭ** *xmàrama *xmàramī
locative *xmàrě *xmàru *xmàrasъ, *xmàraxъ*
vocative *xmàro *xmàrě *xmàry

* -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).

  • *xmurъ (“dusky, dim”)
  • *xmariti, *xmuriti (“to dim”)
    • *xmarьnъ, *хmurьnъ (“murky, cloudy, gloomy”)
  • *komъ (“lump, clod”) (possibly)

Descendants

  • East Slavic:
    • Belarusian: хма́ра (xmára), хмуры́на (xmurýna)
    • Russian: хма́ра (xmára), хму́ра (xmúra) (dialectal)
    • Ukrainian: хма́ра (xmára), хму́ра (xmúra)
  • South Slavic:
    • Serbo-Croatian:
      Cyrillic script: тмо̀ра (possibly)
      Latin script: tmòra (possibly)
  • West Slavic:
    • Czech: chmara, chmoura
    • Polish: chmara, chmura
    • Old Slovak: chmára, chmúra
      • Pannonian Rusyn: хмара (xmara)
      • Slovak: chmúra
    • Sorbian:
      • Upper Sorbian: khmura
      • Lower Sorbian: chmura

Further reading

  • Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “хмара”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
  • Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1981), “*xmara”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 8 (*xa – *jьvьlga), Moscow: Nauka, page 42

References

  1. ^ Olander, Thomas (2001) “xmara”, in Common Slavic Accentological Word List‎[1], Copenhagen: Editiones Olander: “a (RPT 109)”
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