mьglà

mьglà; mьgà; miglъ Grammatical information: f. ā; f. ā; m. o Accent paradigm: b Proto-Slavic meaning: `mist, haze'

Page in Trubačev: XXI 92-94

Old Church Slavic:

mьgla (Ps. Sin. MS 2/N) `mist, haze' [f ā]

Russian:

mglá `mist, haze, darkness' [f ā];

mga `dense mist, drizzle, haze in times of drought' [f ā]

Czech:

mlha `mist, haze' [f ā];

mha (poet.) `mist, haze' [f ā];

mhla (obs., dial.) `mist, haze' [f ā]

Old Czech:

mhla `mist, haze' [f ā]

Polish:

mgɫa `mist, haze' [f ā]

Upper Sorbian:

mihel `wet mist, drizzle' [m o]

Serbo-Croatian:

màgla `mist, haze' [f ā], mȁglu [Accs];

Čak. maglȁ (Novi) `mist, haze' [f ā], maglȕ [Accs], mȁglu;

Kajk. mīēglȍ (Bednja) `mist, haze' [f ā], mīēglȕ [Accs] \{1\};

mǝgà (dial.) `drizzle' [f ā]

Slovene:

mǝglà `mist, haze' [f ā], mglè [Gens], mglę̑ [Gens]

Bulgarian:

măglá `mist, haze' [f ā]

Proto-Balto-Slavic reconstruction: migláH

Lithuanian:

miglà `mist, haze' [f ā] 2/4;

miẽgas `sleep' [m o] 2;

mìgti `sleep, fall asleep' [verb]

Latvian:

migla `mist, haze' [f ā];

mìegs `sleep' [m o]

Old Prussian:

maiggun `sleep' [asgf]

Indo-European reconstruction: h₃migʰ-leh₂

IE meaning: mist, cloud

Page in Pokorny: 712

Comments: I agree with Mayrhofer (EWAia s.v. meghá-) that we must in principle distinguish PIE. *h₃meiǵʰ- and *h₃meigʰ- (cf. Kern 1894: 106). The former root is present in Lith. mỹžti, Latv. mìzt `urinate', and is, in my opinion, sparsely attested in Slavic. On account of their semantic similarity, the above-mentioned Slavic verbs meaning `to drizzle' are sometimes connected with mỹžti etc. I think that the Slavic etyma listed above show that verbs like *mьžiti are best grouped together with *mьglà . A more complicated issue is the relationship between words meaning `mist, drizzle' (*meigʰ- B `dunkel vor den Augen werden, Nebel, Wolke' in Pokorny) and words meaning `blink, twinkle' (*meigʰ- A `flimmern, blinzeln, micāre'), which I discuss s.v. mȋgъ . Since there is no obvious semantic link between these groups, Trubačëv basically tries to keep them apart, e.g. *mьžiti I `blink, twinkle' vs. *mьžiti II `drizzle' (but Ru.(dial.) mža `doze; drizzle; said about smth. which vanished rapidly' without further distinctions). It is not entirely clear how the meanings `doze, drowsiness' and `swarm (with) `fit in. LSrb. migoriś se `move to and fro, swarm with; drizzle' (Schuster-Šewc 907) is matched by MoDu. (dial.) miggelen (miegelen) `drizzle; swarm with'. Ru.(dial.) mžit' `doze, be delirious' is mentioned by Trubačëv s.v. *mьžiti I, but a connection with *mьžiti I cannot be excluded, cf. SCr. míždati `drizzle, doze', MoHG drisseln `drizzle, doze', drusen `doze', drussig `clouded', Lith. blañdas `sleepiness; cloudiness' (cf. Merkulova 1975: 59). Discussing the origin of the meaning `doze' is essentially the same as establishing the semantic connection between Slavic *mьg- and Lith. miẽgas `sleep', mìgt `sleep, fall asleep', miegóti `sleep' etc. Fraenkel (I 447) considers the meaning of miegóti to have evolved from `close one's eyes' (cf. Kern 1894: 109). This seems plausible indeed. On the other hand, there are parallels for a connection between `sleep' and `cloud', e.g. Av. snaođa- `cloud' vs. Lith. snáusti `doze' or OIr. nél `cloud; swoon, faintness, stupor' (cf. Merkulova 1975: 58-59). As long as there is no evidence for a formal distinction between the roots of *mьglà and *mȋgъ, I think that we must depart from a single root h₃meigʰ-.

Other cognates:

Skt. meghá- (RV) `cloud, gloomy weather'

;

Skt. míh- (RV, TS) `haze, rain' [f];

Gk. ὀμίχλη `mist, haze' [f];

Av. maēɣa- `cloud'

;

Arm. mēg `mist';

MoDu. miggelen `drizzle, swarm (with)' [verb] \{2\} \{3\}

Notes:

\{1\} Illič-Svityč lists a number of SCr. dialect forms which point to AP (b) (1963: 40). The standard language has secondary mobility in this word. \{2\} It cannot be excluded that miggelen is cognate with MDu. miegen `urinate'.