Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/polmy

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 *palmōns, from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁-men-, from *pelh₁- (“to burn; ash-gray”). Morphologically *pol- +‎ *-my. Cognate with Lithuanian pelenaĩ (“ashes”), plė́nis (“speck, fine ashes”), Latvian plẽne (“white ashes on coals”) and Old Prussian pelanne (“ashes”).

Noun

*pòlmy m

1. flame

Declension

Declension of *pòlmy (n-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*pòlmy	*pòlmeni	*pòlmene
genitive	*pòlmene	*pòlmenu	*pòlmenъ
dative	*pòlmeni	*pòlmenьma	*pòlmenьmъ
accusative	*pòlmenь	*pòlmeni	*pòlmeni
instrumental	*pòlmenьmь	*pòlmenьma	*pòlmenьmī
locative	*pòlmene	*pòlmenu	*pòlmenьxъ
vocative	*pòlmy	*pòlmeni	*pòlmene

Related terms

• *paliti

Descendants

An n-stem is unambiguously attested in the majority of Slavic languages, including importantly Old Church Slavonic. The East Slavic languages reflect an extended neuter n-stem *polymę or (for Ukrainian) *polumę instead. Russian borrowed the OCS form but converted it into a neuter n-stem as well. The modern Bulgarian form, although clearly related, has a different suffix, reflecting *polmъkъ.

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: поломѧ n (polomę)
    • Russian: по́ломя n (pólomja)
    • Ukrainian: полум'я n (polumʺja)
  • Old Novgorodian: полымѧ n (polymę)
    • → Russian: по́лымя (pólymja)
    • → Belarusian: по́лымя (pólymja)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: пламꙑ (plamy)
    • → Russian: пла́мень (plámenʹ), пла́мя n (plámja)
    • →? Carpathian Rusyn: пламень (plamenʹ)
  • Bulgarian: пла́мък (plámǎk), пла́мен (plámen) (Western dialects), плам (plam) (poetic)
  • Macedonian: пла́мен (plámen), плам (plam) (poetic)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: пла̏ме̄н, пла̑м (poetic)

    Latin script: plȁmēn, plȃm (poetic)

  • Slovene: plámen (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: plamen
    • Czech: plamen
  • Kashubian: płom
  • Polish: płomień
  • Slovak: plameň
  • Sorbian
    • Lower Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: płomjo

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “пламя”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress