Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/čǫbьrъ

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.

Presumably to be connected to Ancient Greek θύμβρον (thúmbron), θύμβρα (thúmbra, “savory”), as also Romanian cimbru, Hungarian csombord.

• *čębьrъ

South Slavic consistently reflects ǫ, Polish had merged the two nasals, East Slavic suggests ę, however East Slavic can be distrusted for vowel reduction. The Greek connection suggests the former; Romanian again the latter.

The variation of the nasal might have been real and might reflect the beginning merger of Greek /y/ with /i/, or dissemination by various Dark Age languages, the term first spreading south of the Carpathians, and under different conditions beyond.

*čǫbьrъ m

1. savory (Satureja gen. et spp.)

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: чабьръ (čabĭrŭ)
    • Belarusian: чабо́р (čabór), gen. чабару́ (čabarú)
    • Russian: ча́бер (čáber), чабёр (čabjór)
      • → Latvian: cēberiņš
      • → Lithuanian: čiõbras, čiobrẽlis
    • Ukrainian: чабе́р (čabér), ча́брик (čábryk), че́бер (čéber), че́брик (čébryk) — dialectal
• South Slavic:
  • Bulgarian: чу́брица (čúbrica), чу́брика (čúbrika) (dialectal), чомбри́ца (čombríca) (dialectal, with decomposed nasalism)
    • → Czech: čubrica
  • Macedonian: чубрика (čubrika)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: чу̏бар

    Latin script: čȕbar

  • Slovene: čǫ́bər
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: čubr, čibr
    • Czech: čabr, čubr, čibr
  • Polish: cząber, cąber, cąbr, cząbr, szcząber (archaic or dialectal)
  • Old Slovak: štúber

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