mь̀čь

mèčь; mь̀čь Grammatical information: m. jo Accent paradigm: b Proto-Slavic meaning: `sword'

Page in Trubačev: XVIII 141-142

Old Church Slavic:

mečь `sword' [m jo]

Russian:

meč' `sword' [m jo], mečá [Gens]

Czech:

meč `sword' [m jo]

Slovak:

meč `sword' [m jo]

Polish:

miecz `sword' [m jo]

Upper Sorbian:

mječ `sword' [m jo];

miecʒ̇ (Matthaei 1721) `sword' [m jo]

Serbo-Croatian:

mȁč `sword' [m jo], màča [Gens];

Čak. mȁč (Vrgada) `sword' [m jo], mačȁ [Gens]

Slovene:

mèč `sword' [m jo]

Bulgarian:

meč `sword' [m jo]

Comments: This etymon has often been considered a borrowing from Germanic, but the Slavic short vowel does not match the long vowel of the Germanic forms. The vacillation between *e and *ь may be attributed to the raising of pretonic *e in the vicinity of a palatalized consonant (see Kortlandt 1984-1985), but this development seems to have occured prior to Dybo's law and there is no particular reason to regard *mečь as an old oxytone noun. Trubačëv (ESSJa s.v.) advocates a connection with OIr. mecc-, referring to Odincov 1985.

Other cognates:

Go. mēki `sword'

;

OS māki `sword'