безмѣнъ

Old East Slavic

безмѣнъ

Etymology

Unknown, attested from the late 14th century, which is after the Mongol invasion, so probably folk-etymologically altered after без- (bez-) +‎ мѣна (měna) and a Turkic rendering of Arabic وَزْنَة (wazna), as most Slavic languages also have Arabic قِنْطَار (qinṭār) via Turkic to denote the steelyard, both originally units of weight. Compare Old Polish bezmian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛˈzmeːnʊ/→/bʲɛˈzmʲeːnʊ/→/bʲɛˈzmʲɛːn/, /bʲɛˈzmʲeːn/

• (ca. 9^th CE) IPA^(key): /bɛˈzmeːnʊ/
• (ca. 11^th CE) IPA^(key): /bʲɛˈzmʲeːnʊ/
• (ca. 13^th CE) IPA^(key): /bʲɛˈzmʲɛːn/, /bʲɛˈzmʲeːn/

Noun

безмѣнъ (bezměnŭ) m

1. stilyard

Descendants

• Russian: безме́н (bezmén)
  • → Georgian: ბაზმანდი (bazmandi)
  • → Armenian: բեզմեն (bezmen)
• Ukrainian: бе́змін (bézmin), бе́змен (bézmen), бедзвін (bedzvin), бедзмін (bedzmin), безмір (bezmir), безьман (bezʹman), безьмін (bezʹmin), безьмин (bezʹmyn) — dialectal
• → Middle Low German: besemer, bisemer, bismer, bysmer, besmere
  • Low German: Besmer, Bismer, Besemer
  • → Middle High German: besemer, bisemer (rare)
  • → German: Besemer, Besmer
  • → Old Norse: bismari
    • Danish: bismer
      • → Greenlandic: bismeri
    • Faroese: bismari
    • Swedish: besman, betsman, dialectally besmar, besmal, bismål, bismere, besmir, bysmär, bissmid etc. (probably reborrowed on multiple occasions)
• → Latvian: bezmēns, vezmēns
• → Lithuanian: bezmė̃nas

References

• Bismere in Johan Ernst Rietz, Svenskt dialektlexikon (1862–1867)
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “безме́н”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress

Russian

Noun

безмѣ́нъ • (bezmě́n) m inan (genitive безмѣ́на, nominative plural безмѣ́ны, genitive plural безмѣ́новъ)

1. Pre-1918 spelling of безме́н (bezmén, “stilyard”).

Declension

Pre-reform declension of безмѣ́нъ (inan masc-form hard-stem accent-a) 

	singular	plural
nominative	безмѣ́нъ bezmě́n	безмѣ́ны bezmě́ny
genitive	безмѣ́на bezmě́na	безмѣ́новъ bezmě́nov
dative	безмѣ́ну bezmě́nu	безмѣ́намъ bezmě́nam
accusative	безмѣ́нъ bezmě́n	безмѣ́ны bezmě́ny
instrumental	безмѣ́номъ bezmě́nom	безмѣ́нами bezmě́nami
prepositional	безмѣ́нѣ bezmě́ně	безмѣ́нахъ bezmě́nax