цьма

Belarusian

Alternative forms

• ćma — Łacinka (Belarusian Latin alphabet)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Ruthenian тьма (tʹma), from Old East Slavic тьма (tĭma), from Proto-Slavic *tьma, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *timāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *temH-. Compare Czech tma, Polish ćma, Russian, Ukrainian тьма (tʹma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡sʲma]
• Hyphenation: ць‧ма

Noun

цьма • (cʹma) f inan (genitive цьмы, uncountable)

1. darkness

   Synonyms: цемната́ (cjemnatá), цямно́та (cjamnóta), це́мень (cjémjenʹ), по́цемкі (pócjemki), мо́рак (mórak), мрок (mrok), це́мра (cjémra)

   Antonym: святло́ (svjatló)

   Наво́кала бе́злюдзь і цьма, І то́лькі кігі́каюць со́вы.

   Navókala bjézljudzʹ i cʹma, I tólʹki kihíkajucʹ sóvy.

   All around is desolation and darkness, and only owls are hooting.

2. (colloquial) lots, heaps, myriad, multitude, swarm, crowd (an overwhelmingly large number of people, animals, plants or other things)

   Synonym: про́цьма (prócʹma)

   • 1912, Кандрат Лейка, Снатворны мак, Вільня: Артель Печатнаго Дѣла, page 11:

     Ось і цяпер Бог паслаў вельмі цёплую вясну; усюды напладзілася такая цьма рознае машкары, што ліку німа ей.

     Osʹ i cjapjer Boh paslaŭ vjelʹmi cjópluju vjasnu; usjudy napladzilasja takaja cʹma róznaje maškary, što liku njama joj.

     And nowadays God sent us a very warm spring; myriads of various insects spawned everywhere so much that they are countless.

Declension

Declension of цьма (inan sg-only hard fem-form accent-d)

	singular
nominative	цьма cʹma
genitive	цьмы cʹmy
dative	цьме cʹmje
accusative	цьму cʹmu
instrumental	цьмой, цьмо́ю cʹmoj, cʹmóju
locative	цьме cʹmje

References

• “цьма” in Belarusian–Russian dictionaries and Belarusian dictionaries at slounik.org
• “цьма”, in Skarnik's Belarusian dictionary (in Belarusian), based on Kandrat Krapiva's Explanatory Dictionary of the Belarusian Language (1977-1984)