Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sъměti

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 *sъ- (“good”) +‎ *mě̀ti, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-. Cognate with Gothic 𐌼𐍉𐌸𐍃 (mōþs, “courage, wrath”) (gen. 𐌼𐍉𐌳𐌹𐍃 (mōdis)), Old High German muot (“mind, courage, wrath”), German Mut (“courage, mood”), English mood.

• Vasmer adds as cognates Ancient Greek μῶμαι (mômai, “to seek, to aspire”), μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek, to aspire”), μῆνις (mênis, “anger”), Latin mōs (“custom”).
• Trubachev further suggests Lithuanian sumdyti (“to move”) (1sg. sùmdau), Welsh chwyfio (“to move”), Old Irish do·seinn (“to hunt”), with semantic development "to seek" > "to desire to achieve" > "to dare".

Verb

*sъmě̀ti impf

1. to dare

Inflection

Derived terms

• *sъmělъ

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: съмѣти (sŭměti)
    • Belarusian: смець (smjecʹ)
    • Russian: сметь (smetʹ)
    • Ukrainian: смі́ти (smíty)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: съмѣти (sŭměti)

    Glagolitic script:

  • Bulgarian: сме́я (sméja)
  • Macedonian: сме́е (smée)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: смје̏ти

    Latin script: smjȅti

  • Slovene: smẹ́ti (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: smieti
    • Czech: smět, smíti (obsolete)
  • Old Polish: śmieć
    • Polish: śmieć
  • Slovak: smieť
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: směć
    • Lower Sorbian: směś

Further reading

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

References