Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/majati

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 *māˀ-, with *-j- (or *-v-) inserted to break hiatus. Cognate with Lithuanian móti (“to beckon”), 1sg. móju, Latvian mãt (“to beckon”), 1sg. mãju, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂-.

Pokorny (and hence Vasmer) separates the meanings "to detain, to exhaust" found among some daughter languages into a separate, homophonous root *majati derived from Proto-Indo-European *meh₃- and cognate with Old High German muoan (“to alarm, to worry”), muodi (“tired”) (modern German müde), Gothic 𐌰𐍆𐌼𐌰𐌿𐌹𐌸𐍃 (afmauiþs, “tired”), Ancient Greek μῶλος (môlos, “burden, labor”), μώλυς (mṓlus, “weakened, exhausted, stupid”), Latin mōlēs (“heaviness, weight”). Derksen prefers to keep all meanings together under Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂-.

See also *māxàti, *mamiti for further discussion.

Verb

*màjati impf (perfective *manǫti)

1. to beckon
2. to wave
3. to detain, to dawdle (regionally, see Etymology)
4. to enchant, to charm (figuratively)

Inflection

Conjugation of *majati, *maja, *majetь (impf., -ja/V-, s-aorist, accent paradigm c)

Verbal noun	Infinitive	Supine	L-participle
*majanьje	*majati	*majatъ	*majalъ

	Participles
Tense	Past	Present
Passive	*majanъ	*majemъ
Active	*majavъ	*maję

	Aorist			Present
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*majaxъ	*maja	*maja	*majǫ	*maješi	*majetь
Dual	*majaxově	*majasta	*majaste	*majevě	*majeta	*majete
Plural	*majaxomъ	*majaste	*majašę	*majemъ	*majete	*majǫtь
	Imperfect			Imperative
Person	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Singular	*majaaxъ	*majaaše	*majaaše	—	*maji	*maji
Dual	*majaaxově	*majaašeta	*majaašete	*majivě	*majita	—
Plural	*majaaxomъ	*majaašete	*majaaxǫ	*majimъ	*majite	—

Alternative forms

• *mavati

Related terms

• *maxati (“to wave”)
• *manǫti (“to beckon”)
• *mamiti, *maniti (“to deceive”)
• *mȃmъ (“deceit”)
• *mara (“ghost, apparition”)
• *morà (“nightly spirit, nightmare”)
• *matati (“to frighten? to swindle?”)

Derived terms

• *omajьnъ (“enchanting”)
• *maхъ (“hand swing”)
• *majakъ (“lighthouse, signalling post”)
• *mati (“mother”) (at least morphologically)
• *makъ (“poppy”) (at least morphologically)

Descendants

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: маꙗти (majati), помавати (pomavati)
    • Belarusian: ма́яць (májacʹ), мая́ць (majácʹ)
    • Russian: ма́ять (májatʹ); dialectal мавать (mavatʹ)
    • Ukrainian: ма́яти (májaty)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Cyrillic: намаꙗти (namajati) (attested form намаꙗахѫ (namajaaxǫ, 3pl. impf.))

    Glagolitic: [Term?]

  • Bulgarian: ма́я (mája)
  • Macedonian: мае (mae)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ма̏јати

    Latin script: mȁjati

  • Slovene: majáti, májati (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: mávati
    • Czech: mávat
  • Slovak: mávať
  • Sorbian:
    • Lower Sorbian: mawaś
  • Polish: majdać, majtać

Further reading

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ма́ять”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “ма́ять”, 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 518
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1990), “*majati (sę)”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 17 (*lъžь – *matješьnъjь), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 132
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1992), “*mavati”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 18 (*matoga – *mękyšьka), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 20
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “мая¹ (to detain)”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 701
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “мая² (to enchant)”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 702