Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/čermъša

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

*čermъša

Alternative forms

• *čermъšь

Etymology

From *čermъxa (“hagberry”) because of the strong aroma. Also found in dialectal Lithuanian kermùšė (“ramson”), Proto-West Germanic *hramusō (“ramson”), Old Irish crem (“ramson”), Ancient Greek κρόμμῠον (krómmuon), κρόμυον (krómuon, “onion”), and borrowed from Iranian into Proto-Turkic *sarmïsak (“garlic”)..

Noun

*čermъša f

1. ramson, bear garlic (Allium ursinum)

Inflection

Declension of *čermъša (soft a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*čermъša	*čermъši	*čermъšę̇
genitive	*čermъšę̇	*čermъšu	*čermъšь
dative	*čermъši	*čermъšama	*čermъšamъ
accusative	*čermъšǫ	*čermъši	*čermъšę̇
instrumental	*čermъšejǫ, *čermъšǫ**	*čermъšama	*čermъšami
locative	*čermъši	*čermъšu	*čermъšasъ, *čermъšaxъ*
vocative	*čermъše	*čermъši	*čermъšę̇

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: чарамша́ (čaramšá)
  • Russian: черемша́ (čeremšá)
  • Ukrainian: черемша́ (čeremšá)
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: чремош (čremoš) (obsolete) – pre-1945 чрѣмошъ (črěmoš)
  • Macedonian: сремуш (sremuš)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: сре̑муш, сре̑муша, сре̑муж, сре̑мужа, сри̏јемуш, сри̏јемуша, сри̏јемуж, сри̏јемужа, цре̏муш, цре̏мош, цримуш, цримош, цри̏јемуш, цри̏јемош, цри̏јемуша, цри̏јемуж, цри̏јемужа

    Latin script: srȇmuš, srȇmuša, srȇmuž, srȇmuža, srȉjemuš, srȉjemuša, srȉjemuž, srȉjemuža, crȇmuš, crȇmoš, crimuš, crimoš, crȉjemuš, crȉjemoš, crȉjemuša, crȉjemuž, crȉjemuža

  • Slovene: čẹ́maž
• West Slavic:
  • Polish: trzemucha (archaic) – the form is *čermuxa but the meaning *čermъša

References

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1977), “*čermъxa”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 4 (*čaběniti – *děľa), Moscow: Nauka, page 68
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “черемша”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress