Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/bľuščь

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

Alternative forms

• *bľuščьcь

Etymology

From *bľьvati (“to puke”) due to the reaction of man’s gastrointestinal system on its consumption or due to the ivy’s way of distribution. A theory that it is from the Old High German descendant of Proto-Germanic *blōstaz (“blossoming”) – which is in German Blust and in the rest of Proto-Germanic got expanded to *blōstmô – is reproofed because it is unlikely that a foreign word for “blossom” got borrowed for a plant which has hardly noticeable flowers. The similarity to Old Prussian bleusky (“rush”) is also most likely coincidental.

Fenwick 2016 proposes a derivation from a Proto-Indo-European *m̥h₂l-éw-sk-yo, a suffixed derivation of a neuter u-stem *móh₂lu, whence (following her) Ancient Greek μῶλυ (môlu, “moly”) as well as a wide range of IE phytonyms, including both well-known IE words for ‘apple’ and the Sanskrit terms for ‘mango’ and ‘tamarind’ hail.

Noun

*bľuščь m

1. ivy (Hedera gen. et spp.)
2. bryony (Dioscorea communis and Bryonia spp.)
3. common hop (Humulus lupulus)

Inflection

Declension of *bľuščь (i-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bľuščь	*bľušči	*bľuščьje, *bľušče*
genitive	*bľušči	*bľuščьju, *bľušču*	*bľuščьjь, *bľušči*
dative	*bľušči	*bľuščьma	*bľuščьmъ
accusative	*bľuščь	*bľušči	*bľušči
instrumental	*bľuščьmь	*bľuščьma	*bľuščьmi
locative	*bľušči	*bľuščьju, *bľušču*	*bľuščьxъ
vocative	*bľušči	*bľušči	*bľuščьje, *bľušče*

^* The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Declension of *bľuščь (soft o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*bľuščь	*bľušča	*bľušči
genitive	*bľušča	*bľušču	*bľuščь
dative	*bľušču	*bľuščema	*bľuščemъ
accusative	*bľuščь	*bľušča	*bľuščę̇
instrumental	*bľuščьmь, *bľuščemь*	*bľuščema	*bľušči
locative	*bľušči	*bľušču	*bľuščixъ
vocative	*bľušču	*bľušča	*bľušči

^* -ьmь in North Slavic, -emь in South Slavic.

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: блюшч (bljušč), oftener плюшч (pljušč)
  • Russian: блющ (bljušč), but now плющ (pljušč, “ivy”)
  • Ukrainian: блющ (bljušč, “ivy”), dialectally also плющ (pljušč)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic: блюшть (bljuštĭ, “ivy”)
  • Bulgarian: блюш (bljuš), плюш (pljuš, “common hop”) (dialectal)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Štokavian: bljȗšt (“black bryony; saliva preceding vomit”), and also current in parts of Dalmatia and Istra as blúšć (“black bryony”)

    Chakavian Serbo-Croatian: bljušč (“black bryony”)

    Kajkavian Serbo-Croatian: bljušč (“black bryony”)

    • ⇒ Serbo-Croatian: bljúštac, bljùštac (“bryony”)
  • Slovene: bljúšč (“ivy; black bryony; white bryony”)
    • ⇒ Slovene: bljúščəc (“bryony”)
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: blúšč, blúšt (extinct except in idioms, one now uses břečťan)
  • Old Polish: bluszcz
    • Polish: bluszcz
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: blušć, blišć
    • Upper Sorbian: blušć

References

• Bezlaj, France (1976) Etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Slovenian Language] (in Slovene), volumes 1 (A – J), Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, page 28
• Fenwick, Rhona S. H. (2016) “Descendants and ancestry of a Proto-Indo-European phytonym *meh₂l-”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies‎^[1], volume 44, numbers 3–4, pages 441-465
• Ша́хматов, Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович (1912) “Slavische Wörter für Epheu”, in Festschrift: Vilhelm Thomsen zur Vollendung des siebzigsten Lebensjahres am 25. Januar 1912 (in German), Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, pages 192–197
• Štrekelj, Karel (1905) “Slavische Wortdeutungen”, in Archiv für slavische Philologie‎^[2] (in German), volume 27, Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, page 1905
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1975), “*bľuščь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 2 (*bez – *bratrъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 138, seemingly confounding words for lungwort listed by Šulek from *pluťe (“lung”)
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “блющ”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress