emela

emela; emelo; jьmela; jьmelo Grammatical information: f. ā; n. o Proto-Slavic meaning: `mistletoe'

Page in Trubačev: VI 26-27

Russian:

oméla `mistletoe' [f ā]

Old Russian:

omela `lure (for birds)' [f ā];

imela `lure (for birds)' [f ā]

Czech:

jmelí `mistletoe' [n io];

melí (dial.) `mistletoe' [n io];

omela (dial.) `mistletoe' [f ā];

omelo (dial.) `mistletoe' [n o]

Old Czech:

jmelé `mistletoe' [n io]

Slovak:

jemelo (dial.), hemelo (dial.) `mistletoe' [n o];

imelo, jmelo (dial.) `mistletoe' [n o]

Polish:

jemioɫa `mistletoe' [f ā];

jamioɫa (dial.) `mistletoe' [f ā];

imioɫa (dial.) `mistletoe' [f ā]

Old Polish:

jemioɫa `mistletoe' [f ā];

jemioɫ `mistletoe' [m o];

jemioɫo `mistletoe' [n o]

Upper Sorbian:

jemjel `mistletoe' [m o]

Lower Sorbian:

jemjoɫ, hemjoɫ `mistletoe' [m o]

Serbo-Croatian:

ìmela `mistletoe' [f ā];

mèla `mistletoe' [f ā];

òmela (dial.) `mistletoe' [f ā]

Slovene:

omę́la `mistletoe' [f ā];

imę̑la `mistletoe' [f ā];

mę̑la `mistletoe' [f ā];

melję̑ `mistletoe' [n jo]

Proto-Balto-Slavic reconstruction: emel-

Lithuanian:

ãmalas, ẽmalas `mistletoe' [m o] 3^b

Latvian:

amuols;

ęmuols (BW);

amuls;

āmals;

āmuls `mistletoe, clover' [m o] \{1\}

Old Prussian:

emelno (EV) `mistletoe'

Indo-European reconstruction: emel-o-

IE meaning: mistletoe

Certainty: -

Comments: This plant name is probably a borrowing from a non-Indo-European substratum language. The Slavic forms with *jьm- may be due to popular etymology (the mistletoe's sap is used to produce bird-lime), cf. OCS imati `to take'. An etymological connection with PIE *h₁m- `to take' is doubtful, as is the connection with *H₃eHm- `raw' .

Notes:

\{1\} The forms with ā- may show the influence of âbuõls `apple, clover'.