Long-range etymologies : List with all references

Near etymology: род. п. шмеля́, диал. чмель, севск. (Преобр.), ще́мель, псковск. (Даль), укр. чмíль, род. п. чмеля́, джмiль, род. п. -я́, также чмола́ "шмель" (по аналогии слова бджола́), блр. чмель, витебск., словен. čmȇlj, šmȇlj, чеш. čmel, štmel, стар. ščmel, слвц. čmеl᾽, польск. czmiel, strzmiel, в.-луж. čmjеɫа, н.-луж. tśḿel.

Further etymology: Праслав. *čьmеl᾽ь связано чередованием гласных с komarъ (см. кома́р). Родственно лит. kamãnė "вид шмеля", kamìnė "дикая пчела", лтш. kamine, др.-прусск. саmus "шмель", др.-инд. саmаrás "Воs grunniens", д.-в.-н. humbal "шмель", далее -- лит. kimìnti "делать голос хриплым, глухим", kìmti, kìmstu "хрипнуть"; см. Зубатый, AfslPh 16, 387; Уленбек, РВВ 35, 174 и сл.; Бернекер I, 167; Траутман, ВSW 115 и сл.; Арr. Sprd. 352; М.--Э. 2, 149; Брюкнер 79; Торп 95; Соболевский, Лекции 137; Френкель, Lit. Wb. 212 (где сообщается также иное объяснение -- Ниеминена (LР 3, стр. 187 и сл.)). Формы на щ- объясняются как результат сближения со словом щемить; см. Аппель, РФВ 3, 88. Следует отклонить реконструкцию праформы *čьkmеlь, вопреки Агрелю (МО 8, 166). Фин. kimalainen "шмель, пчела", которое ранее охотно толковали как заимств. из праслав. (Н. Андерсон у Мi. ЕW 419), связано с фин. kimara "мед" и должно быть отделено от слова шмель; см. Калима, Мél. Мikkola 67 и сл.; Тойвонен, Еtуm. San. 1, 194; Ниеминен, там же.

Pages: 4,459

Proto-Baltic: *kam-u-s, *kam-an-iā̃, -un-iā̃, -en-iā̃, -in-iā̃ f.

Meaning: bumble-bee

Indo-European etymology: Indo-European etymology

Lithuanian: kamãnē, dial. kamìnē, (Kvedarna) kamunē̃ `Mooshummel'

Lettish: kamane, kamene, kamine `Erdbiene, Hummel'

Old Prussian: camus `Hummel' V. 788

Proto-Germanic: *xumlō, *xumla-z

Meaning: an insect

IE etymology: IE etymology

Norwegian: dial. humla

Swedish: humla

Danish: humle

Middle English: hummelbē, homelbē, hummel f.

English: humble-beе

Middle Dutch: hommel, hōmel, hummel

Dutch: hommel f.

Middle Low German: hōmele, hōmelte, hummel(e)

Old High German: humbal m. (10.Jh.), humbalo m., humbala f. (11.Jh.)

Middle High German: humbel, hummel st. m. 'hummel'

German: Hummel f.

Number: 897

Root: kem-2

English meaning: to buzz

German meaning: `summen'

Material: Ai. camara- m. `bos grunniens';

mhd. nhd. hummen, nhd. hummeln, holl. hommelen `summen', mengl. hummen, engl. hum ds., norw. humre `leise wiehern'; dazu ursprüngl. wohl auch ahd. humbal, mhd. humbel, hummel m. `Hummel', mnd. hummel f., engl. humble-bее, norw. mdartl. humla f. ds.;

lit. kìmstu, kìmti `heiser werden', kìminti `die Stimme dumpf machen', kimùs `heiser, dumpflautend', kamãnė `Erdbiene', kamìnė `Feldbiene', lett. kamines f. pl. `Erdbienen, Hummeln', apr. camus `Hummel';

slav. *čьmelь (ablautgleich mit Hummel) in russ. dial. čmelь usw, `Hummel, Erdbiene'; ksl. russ. komár usw. `Mücke' (ablautgleich mit lit. kamãnė).

References: WP. I 389, Trautmann 115 f.

Pages: 556

PIE database: PIE database

Proto-Altaic: *kumi ( ~ -o-,-i̯u-)

Nostratic: Nostratic

Meaning: a k. of insect

Russian meaning: вид насекомого

Turkic: *Kumɨr-

Mongolian: *kömörege

Tungus-Manchu: *kumke

Korean: *kǝ̀mɨ́i

Japanese: *kùmuâ

Comments: SKE 105, Lee 1958, 119, Martin 242, ОСНЯ 1, 309, АПиПЯЯ 290, Дыбо 9, Лексика 184. An expressive root: cf. *ki̯uma, *kajamV.

Proto-Turkic: *Kumɨr-

Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology

Meaning: ant

Russian meaning: муравей

Old Turkic: qumursɣa (OUygh.)

Turkish: komursɣa (dial.)

Tatar: qɨrmɨsqa

Middle Turkic: qumursxa (Pav. C.), qumursuɣa (AH)

Uzbek: qumursqa

Turkmen: Gumursɣa

Khakassian: xumusxa, xɨmɨsxa

Shor: qɨmɨrtaš, qumɨstaš

Oyrat: qomursqa

Halaj: Gumurɣāč

Yakut: kɨmɨrdaɣas

Tuva: qɨmɨsqajaq

Kirghiz: qumursqa

Kazakh: qumɨrsqa

Noghai: qumɨrsqa

Bashkir: qɨmɨrɵqa

Balkar: qumursxa, qumursqa, qumurčxa

Karaim: qumurstqa, qumurstqu

Salar: qumusqa, qomusqǝn

Kumyk: xomursɣa

Comments: EDT 628, VEWT 300, Лексика 183-184, ЭСТЯ 6, 140-141.

Proto-Mongolian: *kömörege

Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology

Meaning: a k. of insect

Russian meaning: вид круглого червя (желто-розового цвета, величиной с ноготь человеческого пальца, живущего в печеночной области)

Written Mongolian: kömörege (МХТТТ)

Khalkha: xömrög

Proto-Tungus-Manchu: *kumke

Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology

Meaning: louse

Russian meaning: вошь

Evenki: kumke; kumikēn 'insect'

Even: kumke; kumnilen 'name of a beetle'

Negidal: kumke

Literary Manchu: xelmeku, xelmexen 'spider'

Nanai: kuŋke (dial.)

Oroch: kume

Udighe: kumuge

Solon: xuŋkē; xumīxe 'ant'

Comments: ТМС 1, 430, 431, 481. -l- in Manchu is probably secondary (tabooistic contamination with xelme 'shadow').

Proto-Korean: *kǝ̀mɨ́i

Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology

Meaning: spider

Russian meaning: паук

Modern Korean: kǝmi

Middle Korean: kǝ̀mɨ́i

Comments: Nam 32, KED 84.

Proto-Japanese: *kùmuâ

Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology

Meaning: spider

Russian meaning: паук

Old Japanese: kum(w)o

Middle Japanese: kùmó

Tokyo: kúmo

Kyoto: kùmô

Kagoshima: kumó

Comments: JLTT 463.

Proto-Eskimo: *kumaɣ

Nostratic etymology: Nostratic etymology

Meaning: louse

Russian meaning: вошь

Proto-Yupik: *kumaɣ

Proto-Inupik: *kumaɣ

Comparative Eskimo Dictionary: 181

Proto-Yupik: *kumaɣ

Eskimo etymology: Eskimo etymology

Meaning: louse

Russian Meaning: вошь

Sirenik: kúmǝx

Chaplino: kumák (ɣǝt), kúmaq*

Naukan: kúmak

Koniag (AAY): AP kumakiʁ- 'to look for lice, to delose'

Central Alaskan Yupik: kumakiʁ- 'to look for lice, to delose'

Egegik (Peripheral): kumak

Norton Sound (Peripheral): kumak

Comparative Eskimo Dictionary: 181

Proto-Inupik: *kųmąɣ

Eskimo etymology: Eskimo etymology

Meaning: louse

Russian meaning: вошь

Seward Peninsula Inupik: kumak

SPI Dialects: Imaq kúmak, W komąk* (āk, ait), KI kumak*

North Alaskan Inupik: kumak

NAI Dialects: B, Ingl komąk*

Western Canadian Inupik: kumak

WCI Dialects: Cor, M komąk*

Eastern Canadian Inupik: kumak, kumaʁuaq 'tiny land insect'

Greenlandic Inupik: kumak (kumak*)

Comparative Eskimo Dictionary: 181

Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *ḳaml- (?)

Meaning: louse, flea

Borean etymology: Borean etymology

Semitic: *ḳaml- ~ *ḳalm- 'louse'

Western Chadic: *ḳuma(l)- 'flea (of rats, dogs)' (?)

Central Chadic: *kwamal- 'red ant' (<Arb.?)

Notes: Scarce data. Cf. Dolg AAN 16. Cf. *ka/il(-m)- 'biting insect'.

Number: 166

Proto-Semitic: *ḳaml- ~ *ḳalm-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: louse

Eblaitic: ga-ma-tum = UH_ [MEE 4 1022]. Interpreted as /ḳalmatum/ 'pidocchio' in [Fron. Ebl. 177]. As rightly pointed out by Fronzaroli, a normalization /kalmatum/ is equally possible which would yield a form identi- cal to kalmatu which is well known from Akkadian (cf. below). This interpretation is adopted in [Civil Ebla 90]. For a tenta- tive interpretation of ga-na-du-um, another Ebl. correspondence to Sum. UH_ cf. No. ...

Aramaic: Anc. ḳml 'louse' [HJ 1013]. Hapax in KAI 222 A 31: ...wyšlḥn ʔlhn mn kl mh ʔkl bʔrpd wbʕmh [yʔkl p]m ḥwh wpm ʕḳrb wpm dbhh wpm nmrh wss wḳml ... 'And may the gods send everything which can eat against Arpad and his people! Let the snake's mouth eat, and the scorpion's mouth, and the bear's mouth, and the leopard's mouth as well as moth and louse...' (cf. [Fitzmyer 88-9] and especially [Tawil 61]).

Judaic Aramaic: ḳalmǝtā 'vermin' [Ja. 1378], [Levy WT II 363].

Syrian Aramaic: ḳalmā 'pediculus; animalculum frumento infestum' [Brock. 668], [PS 3635].

Arabic: ḳaml- 'poux', ḳummal- 'petites fourmis; petites sauterelles qui n'ont pas encore d'aile' [BK 2 816], [Fr. III 500] (also ḳamāl- 'pediculus'), [LA 11 568-9].

Epigraphic South Arabian: Sab. ḳmlt 'insect pests, locusts (?)' [SD 105]. Until recently this term was known from one inscription only, of doubtful authenticity (C 174/4: wl wgybhmw bn bn kl ḳmltm wtḫybm 'in order to protect them from every kind of pest and drought') but now it is attested also in MAFRAY-al-Bayḍāʔ 100/7 (cf. [Sima 129ff.] for details). Sab. ḳlm, ḳlmt 'insect pest, locusts (?)' [SD 105]. Qat. ḳlm 'Lausbefall' [Sima 131]. More details on the ESA forms see in [Sima 131ff.] (in par- ticular, the only Qat. attestation Bāfaqīh-Bāṭāyiʕ 7/2: bn kl ḳlmm 'from every harmful insect'). A related verbal form h-ḳlm 'to be ravaged (land) by insect pests' [SD 105] seems to be at- tested in S̆araf ad-Dīn 8/13 (not very reliable according to [Si- ma 131]).

Geʕez (Ethiopian): ḳʷǝmāl, ḳǝmāl 'louse' [LGz. 432].

Tigre: NUMBER 41 PROTO *mw/yt PRNUM 0 MEANING to die PSPEECH v AKK mâtu (Ass muātu) OAkk on [CAD M 421], [AHw 634] EBL AMO UGA mt [Aist 197] CAN AMARNA ti-mi-tu-na-nu 'you make us die' (impf.caus.suff.) [HJ 605], AMM ymtn (impf.3 pl.m.) [ibid.], PHO mt [T 204] PHN HBR mwt [KB 562] ARM SAM OLD OFF NAB PLM HTR mwt/myt [HJ 605-6], BIB mōt 'Tod' [KB deutsch 1734] BIB JUD mwt, myt [Ja 780]; [Sok 297] SYR mīt [Brock 378] NEW MND MUT [DM 263] ARA mwt [BK 2 1165] DIAL SAR SAB mwt [SD 89] GEZ mota [LGz 375] TGR motä [LH 134] TNA motä [Bass 100] AMH motä [K 304] GAF HAR EAST HAR mōta [LH 114], SEL mōtä, WOL motä, ZWY mūtä [LGur 435] CHA GUR SOD motä, GYE mōtä, CHA EZHA MUH MAS GOG mʷätä, END ENN mōdä [ibid.] MHR mōt [JM 275] HRS mōt 'to die, to be numb' [JH 92] JIB emyét 'to put to death' [JJ 176]; mít 'death' [ibid.] SOQ mī 'mort' [LS 237].

Looks like a "pseudo-correction", with *-t understood as a feminine marker and the word "corrected" into masculine, possibly due to some mythological association AFR NOTES Usually reconstructed as *mwt; -y-, however, is clearly represented in part of ARM and MSA and therefore cannot be disregarded.

[Fr 38]: *mawit- 'morto', mawt- 'morte' (GEZ, ARB, SYR, HBR, UGR, GEZ) ; [KB 562]: HBR, UGR, ARM, ARB, SAB, GEZ, TGR, AKK; [LGz 375]: HBR, UGR, ARM, ARB, SAB, GEZ, AKK, MHR ḳämlät id. [LH 237]. Note ḳomäl 'poux' [ibid.] (according to d'Abbadie).

Tigrai (Tigriñña): ḳumal id. [Bass. 288].

Amharic: ḳǝmal id. [K 700].

Gurage: Msq. Gog. Sod. ḳǝmal, Sel. Wol. ḳumal, Cha. Eža ḳǝmar, Gyt. ḳǝm_ār, Zwy. ḳǝmāy, Muh. ḳǝme, Enm. ʔǝ̃m_ār, End. ʔǝwān 'louse' [LGur. 481].

Notes: Cf. the verbal root *ḳml 'to grow mouldy, putrid, rotten': Syr. ḳǝmal 'maciem passus est; mucorem duxit' [Brock. 672], Arb. ḳml 'être couvert de points noirs (se dit de la tige de certains végétaux)' [BK 2 816], [Fr. III 500], [LA XI 568]. Hbr. ḳml (at- tested in Is 33.9 and 19.6) may also belong here, especially if the translation 'to be infested with lice' is accepted (an alternative interpretation 'to become black, blacken' is preferred in [KB 1108-9]). Cf. Mnd. ḳiluma 'corruption, putrefaction' [DM 410]. Phonetically and semantically similar forms with non-empha- tic k in Akkadian and Aramaic (according to [Zimmern 52], Ara- maic forms are Akkadisms) are put in connection with the present root by many scholars (v. references below; for a sceptical eva- luation of this approach see [Sima 131], [HJ 513]): Akk. kalmatu 'parasite, louse (on animals, plants and human beings)' OAkk. on [CAD k 86], [AHw. 426]. In Old Akkadian as a proper name only. The oldest attestations may be found in the OA and OB letters CCT 2 30:29 and TCL 17 2:21 (both describe grain which is kalmatam lapit/laptat 'affected by k.'). References from Mari are collected and analysed in [Lion-Michel 720-2]. Se- veral varieties of k. are found in lexical lists; Anc. klmh 'parasite, louse' [HJ 513]. Supposed to be attes- ted in KAI 222 A 31 (cf. above) where kl mh (usually understood as 'everything that') is thought to represent klmh (v. espe- cially [Tawil 60-2]). This approach is rejected in [Fitzmyer 88-9] ("but that is not to be accepted") without sufficient ar- gumentation. Jud. kalmā, kalmǝtā 'vermin' [Ja. 645], [Levy WT I 367], [Levy WTM 341], klmh 'vermin' [Sok. 261]; Sam. klmym 'gnat' [Tal 391]. Hbr. kinnām and related forms are hardly connected with the present root in spite of the common opinion, v. No. ... . [Fron. 297]: *ḳalm-(at-) 'pidocchio' (Gez., Arb., Syr., Hbr. /ḳml/, Akk. /kalmatu/); [Sima 131]: ESA, Arb., Gez., Hbr. (ḳāmal; apparently a verbal form for which see above), Arm.; [LGz. 432]: Gez., Eth., Arb., ESA (ḳlmt); Hbr., Arm. (also kalmǝtā), Syr. (ḳalmā), "related to Hbr. kinnām, Soq. konem, Mhr. konem"; [Brock. 668]: Syr., Jud. (ḳalmǝtā, kalmǝtā), Arb., ESA (ḳmlt), Gez., Akk. (kalmatu), Hbr. (kinnām), Soq. (konem).

Proto-WChadic: *ḳuma(l)-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'flea (of rats, dogs)'

Hausa: ḳùmā́ (unless <Arab)

Mupun: kuma (<Hs?)

Proto-CChadic: *kwamal-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'ant'

Buduma=Yedina: komāli

Long-range etymologies :

Nostratic etymology :

Indo-European etymology :

Vasmer's dictionary :

Baltic etymology :

Germanic etymology :

Pokorny's dictionary :

Altaic etymology :

Turkic etymology :

Mongolian etymology :

Tungus etymology :

Korean etymology :

Japanese etymology :

Eskimo etymology :

Yupik etymology :

Inupik etymology :

Afroasiatic etymology :

Semitic etymology :

West Chadic etymology :

Central Chadic etymology :