Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/měra

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

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *mḗˀrāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-reh₂, from *meh₁- (“to measure”).

Cognate with Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “plan, ruse”), Old English mǣþ (“measure”), Sanskrit माति (mā́ti), मिमाति (mímāti, “to measure, to assign”), मात्रा (mā́trā, “measure”), Latin mētior (“to measure”), Albanian mat, mas (“to measure”).

Noun

*mě̀ra f

1. measure

Inflection

Declension of *mě̀ra (hard a-stem, accent paradigm a)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mě̀ra	*mě̀rě	*mě̀ry
genitive	*mě̀ry	*mě̀ru	*mě̀rъ
dative	*mě̀rě	*mě̀rama	*mě̀ramъ
accusative	*mě̀rǫ	*mě̀rě	*mě̀ry
instrumental	*mě̀rojǫ, *mě̀rǭ**	*mě̀rama	*mě̀ramī
locative	*mě̀rě	*mě̀ru	*mě̀rasъ, *mě̀raxъ*
vocative	*mě̀ro	*mě̀rě	*mě̀ry

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** 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).

Derived terms

• *mě̀riti (“to measure”)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: мѣра (měra)
    • Belarusian: ме́ра (mjéra)
    • Russian: ме́ра (méra)
    • Ukrainian: мі́ра (míra)
    • → Finnic: (borrowed separately or spread)
      • Estonian: määr
      • Finnish: määrä
      • Ingrian: määrä
      • Karelian: meärä
      • Votic: määre
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: мѣра (měra)

    Glagolitic: [Term?]

  • Bulgarian: мя́ра (mjára)
  • Macedonian: мера (mera)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ме̏ра

    Latin script: mȅra

  • Slovene: mẹ́ra (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: miera
    • Czech: míra
  • Old Polish: miara, miera
    • Polish: miara
    • Silesian: miara
  • Old Slovak: miera
    • Pannonian Rusyn: мира (mira)
    • Slovak: miera
  • Polabian: m’oro
  • Pomeranian:
    • Kashubian: miara
    • Slovincian: mjara
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: měra
    • Lower Sorbian: měra

Separate borrowings:

• → Hungarian: mera

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ме́ра”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “ме́ра”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 524
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*měra”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 178