Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/čermъxa

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

*čermъxa

Alternative forms

• *čermuxa

Etymology

Cognate with Lithuanian šermukšnis (“rowan, mountain ash”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *kermušā, *śermušā. From Proto-Indo-European *ḱremuseh₂; compare Proto-West Germanic *hramusō (“ramson”), Old Irish crem (“dog's leek, buckrams”), Ancient Greek κρόμμυον (krómmuon, “onion”).

The reason for limited attestation in Macedonia and Bulgaria, or with the meaning Prunus mahaleb in Serbia and Macedonia, is the range of the plant ending there.

Noun

*čermъxa f

1. hagberry (fruit, tree, or wood) (Prunus padus)

Inflection

Declension of *čermъxa (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*čermъxa	*čermъśě	*čermъxy
genitive	*čermъxy	*čermъxu	*čermъxъ
dative	*čermъśě	*čermъxama	*čermъxamъ
accusative	*čermъxǫ	*čermъśě	*čermъxy
instrumental	*čermъxojǫ, *čermъxǫ**	*čermъxama	*čermъxami
locative	*čermъśě	*čermъxu	*čermъxasъ, *čermъxaxъ*
vocative	*čermъxo	*čermъśě	*čermъxy

^* -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).

Derived terms

• *čermъša (“ramson (Allium ursinum)”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: черемъха (čeremŭxa)
    • Belarusian: чаро́мха (čarómxa), dialectally чаро́муха (čarómuxa)
    • Russian: черёмха (čerjómxa) now displaced by черёмуха (čerjómuxa)
    • Ukrainian: чере́мха (čerémxa), dialectally чере́муха (čerémuxa)
      • → Polish: czeremcha (from 17^th century)
• South Slavic:
  • Macedonian: цремша (cremša), черемуша (čeremuša, “Prunus mahaleb”) (regional)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: сре̏мза, dialectally цре̏мза, цре̏мжа, цре̏мша, сре̏мжа, сре̏мса, сре̏мша and also meaning Prunus mahaleb

    Latin script: srȅmza, dialectally crȅmza, crȅmža, crȅmša, srȅmža, srȅmsa, srȅmša and also meaning Prunus mahaleb

  • Slovene: črȇmsa, obsoletely dialectally also črȇmha, crẹ̑nsa
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: třěmcha
    • Czech: střemcha, dialectally also třemcha, čermucha, černucha
  • Polish: trzemcha (“hagberry”), trzemucha (“ramson”) (both displaced)
  • Slovak: čremcha

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 67
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “черемуха”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress