Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/marěna

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

*marěna

Etymology

Unknown. Perchance related to *marati (“to stain, to sully”). It might be a substrate word spread from Poland and only late, while comparisons with other Indo-European words are difficult and prone to chance correspondence. However it has terminally ousted the other Slavic word for madder, *broščь, by the end of the Early Modern Age.

Noun

*marěna m

1. madder (Rubia tinctorum)

   Synonym: *bròščь

Inflection

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

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*marěna	*marěně	*marěny
genitive	*marěny	*marěnu	*marěnъ
dative	*marěně	*marěnama	*marěnamъ
accusative	*marěnǫ	*marěně	*marěny
instrumental	*marěnojǫ, *marěnǭ**	*marěnama	*marěnamī
locative	*marěně	*marěnu	*marěnasъ, *marěnaxъ*
vocative	*marěno	*marěně	*marěny

^* -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).

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Belarusian: марэ́на (maréna), мару́на (marúna)
  • Russian: маре́на (maréna), also however марена́ (marená) (and written without ѣ pre-1918)
  • Ukrainian: маре́на (maréna), мару́на (marúna)
    • → Romanian: mărună
• South Slavic: —
  • →? Albanian: marenë
• West Slavic:
  • Czech: mařena, mořena
  • Old Polish: marzanna, marzawa
    • Polish: marzana, marzanna
  • Slovak: marena

Further reading

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1990), “*marěna”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 17 (*lъžь – *matješьnъjь), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 210
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “марена”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress