леќа
See also: лека
Macedonian
Etymology
Probably a South Slavic borrowing from an unidentified source. Common Slavic age form is reconstructed as Proto-Slavic *lęťa.
Cognate with Old Church Slavonic лѧща (lęšta), Bulgarian леща (lešta), Serbo-Croatian leća, Slovene leča, and Hungarian lencse.
Compare also Lithuanian lęšis, Old High German linsa, Latin lēns sounding too similar for a coincidence, however different enough to prohibit reconstruction of a common PIE protoform.
If ultimately a non-IE loanword, locating the source is impossible because cultivation of lentil was widespread in the Mediterranean region since the Neolithic.
Pronunciation
Noun
леќа • (leḱa) f