< Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic
Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/Semь
Proto-Slavic
Etymology
Probably an Iranian origin, borrowed from Scythian, further from Proto-Iranian *cyaHmáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćyaHmás (“black”), originally meaning “black, dark river”.
Cognates include Avestan 𐬯𐬁𐬨𐬀 (sāma, “black”), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāmá, “black, dark-coloured, dark blue”).
Proper noun
Semь m
- Seym (a river in Russia and Ukraine)
Inflection
Declension of *Semь (i-stem, uncountable)
Singular | |
---|---|
Nominative | *Semь |
Accusative | *Semь |
Genitive | *Semi |
Locative | *Semi |
Dative | *Semi |
Instrumental | *Semьmь |
Vocative | *Semi |
* 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).
Descendants
- East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: Семь (Semĭ), Сѣмь (Sěmĭ)
- Old Ruthenian: Семь (Semʹ), Семъ (Sem)
- Belarusian: Сейм (Sjejm)
- Ukrainian: Сейм (Sejm)
- Russian: Семь (Semʹ), Сеимъ (Seim), Сеймъ (Sejm) (Pre-reform orthography (1918))
- Russian: Сейм (Sejm); Семь (Semʹ), Сем (Sem) (Kursk subdialects)
- Old Ruthenian: Семь (Semʹ), Семъ (Sem)
- Old East Slavic: Семь (Semĭ), Сѣмь (Sěmĭ)
Further reading
- Toporov, Vladimir, Trubachyov, Oleg (1962) Лингвистический анализ гидронимов Верхнего Поднепровья (in Russian), Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences, page 226
- Stryzhak, O. S., editor (1985), “Семь”, in Етимологічний словник літописних географічних назв Південної Русі [Etymological Dictionary of Chronicle Geographical Names of Southern Rus'] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, page 141