хѣрь

Old Novgorodian

Etymology

By surface analysis, *хѣре (*xěre, “gray”) +‎ -ь (-ĭ). Possibly inherited from Proto-Slavic *śěrь (“grey cloth”), from *śěrъ (“gray”) with pre-secondarily palatalized *x-. Compare Old Czech šěř, Czech šer (“grey cloth, linsey-woolsey, pathetic clothes”). First attested in c. 1360‒1380.

It was mistakenly assumed to be borrowed from Middle Low German gêre, gere, gir (“wedge-shaped piece of cloth”).

Noun

хѣрь • (xěrĭ) f

1. grey cloth, linsey-woolsey

   Synonym: водмоле (vodmole)

   • c. 1360‒1380, Берестяная грамота № 130 [Birchbark letter no. 130]‎^[3], Novgorod:

     у вигарѧ :к҃: локото хѣри беꙁо локти у валита в кюлолакши :і҃:д҃: локти хѣри у ваиваса у ваѧкшина :і҃в҃: локти водмолу и поло третиѧ нацате локти хѣри у мѣлита в куролѣ :д҃: локти хѣри

     u vigarę :k:: lokoto xěri bezo lokti u valita v kjulolakši :i::d:: lokti xěri u vaivasa u vajękšina :i:v:: lokti vodmolu i polo tretiję nacate lokti xěri u mělita v kurolě :d:: lokti xěri

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “хѣрь”, in Берестяные грамоты – Национальный корпус русского языка [Birchbark Letters – Russian National Corpus], https://ruscorpora.ru/, 2003–2024