Reconstruction:Proto-Balto-Slavic/métas

This Proto-Balto-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-Balto-Slavic

Etymology

Commonly proposed etymologies:

• From Proto-Indo-European *met- (“to measure”), originally meaning “measure of time”. Akin to Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “unit of measure, metre”), Proto-Iranian *mā́θyah (“day”) and further related to Proto-Indo-Iranian *mā́tiš (“measure”), Old English mǣþ (“measure”), Albanian mot (“weather, era”), Proto-Slavic *měta (“mark, label”). Often compared with synonymous roots *meh₁-, *med-, perhaps all extensions of the instrumental/locative particle *me (“amids, with, by”).
• From Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, to jolt, to sweep”), originally meaning “harvest, season”. Akin to Ancient Greek ἄμητος (ámētos, “harvest”), Latin messis (“harvest, season”), Proto-Germanic *mēþwō (“meadow”).

Derksen favours the first option, while Szemerényi - the second.

Noun

*métas n (Baltic)

1. time, period
2. (by extension) year

   Synonym: *gadás

Inflection

S-stem, fixed accent.

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Related terms

• *mátas (“measure, aim”) (possibly)
  • *matī́ˀtei, *matrī́ˀtei (“to look at, to watch”) (possibly)

Descendants

• East Baltic: (reanalyzed as masc. o-stem)
  • Latvian: męts (“time”)
  • Lithuanian: mẽtas sg (“time”), mẽtai pl (“year”)
• West Baltic:
  • Old Prussian: mettan (interpreted as neut. o-stem), mette (“year”)
• Slavic:
  • ⇒? Proto-Slavic: *bezmetьnъ/*bezmětьnъ (“transcendental, idyllic, timeless”) (possibly)

Further reading

• Derksen, Rick (2015) “metas”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 314
• “metas”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012