Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sъmetana

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

Etymology

From *sъmetanъ +‎ *-a.

Forms with nasal infix (e.g. borrowed Romanian smântână) are probably due to confusion with *sъmęsti (“to commingle”).

Participle

*sъmetana

1. feminine nominative/vocative singular of *sъmetanъ

Noun

*sъmetana f

1. (nominalized) smetana (whipped cream)

Inflection

Declension of *sъmetana (hard a-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*sъmetana	*sъmetaně	*sъmetany
genitive	*sъmetany	*sъmetanu	*sъmetanъ
dative	*sъmetaně	*sъmetanama	*sъmetanamъ
accusative	*sъmetanǫ	*sъmetaně	*sъmetany
instrumental	*sъmetanojǫ, *sъmetanǫ**	*sъmetanama	*sъmetanami
locative	*sъmetaně	*sъmetanu	*sъmetanasъ, *sъmetanaxъ*
vocative	*sъmetano	*sъmetaně	*sъmetany

^* -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:
  • Old Ruthenian: смета́на (smetána)
    • Belarusian: смята́на (smjatána)
    • Carpathian Rusyn: смета́на (smetána)
    • Ukrainian: смета́на (smetána)
  • Russian: смета́на (smetána)
    • → Armenian: սմետան (smetan)
    • → English: smetana
    • → Finnish: smetana
    • → French: smitane
      • → English: smitane
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: смета́на (smetána)
  • Serbo-Croatian: (dialectal)

    Cyrillic script: сме̏тана

    Latin script: smȅtana

  • Slovene: smẹ́tana (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: smetana
    • Czech: smetana
      • → German: Schmetten
  • Kashubian: smiotana
  • Polabian: såmătonă
  • Old Polish: śmiatana, śmiotana
    • Polish: śmietana
    • Silesian: śmietōna
  • Old Slovak: smatana, smetana, smotana
    • ⇒ Old Slovak: smetánka, smotánka
      • Pannonian Rusyn: шметанка (šmetanka)
    • Slovak: smotana
  • Slovincian: smjatana
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: smjetana
    • Lower Sorbian: sḿetana

• Non-Slavic
  • → Middle Low German: smand (possibly)
    • → German: Schmand, Schmant
    • → Yiddish: שמאַנט (shmant)
  • → Romanian: smântână
  • → Lithuanian: smetona (East Slavic or Polish influence)

Furher reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “смета́на”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “сметана”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Martynaŭ, V. U., Tsykhun, G. A., editors (1978–2017), “смятана”, in Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы [Etymological Dictionary of the Belarusian Language] (in Belarusian), Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka