gjysmë

Albanian

Alternative forms

gjymsë, gjymës, gjysëm, gjysë, gjimës, gjumsë — dialectal or archaic

Etymology

Has been linked to Proto-Indo-European *yemH- (“twin”),^[1]^[2] although this is problematic both phonologically and semantically.

May reflect Proto-Indo-European *sḗmi-ty-om, compare Ancient Greek ἥμισσον n (hḗmisson, “half”), from *sēmi- (“half”). Original *s regularly yields gj before accented vowels. The original *ē, after becoming *o must have regularly fronted to *e due to the following *i, and afterwards raised to *i because of the preceding palatal occlusive and following nasal, as also happened in qind, gjind. The evolution of an original stressed gji before labials to an oscillating gjy ~ gji ~ gju can also be observed in magjyp. The metathesis of ms may have been reinforced by contamination with -më, compare also kullusmë.

An early form of the term influencing Romanian jumătate, Aromanian giumitati / giumitate, although possible, seems unnecessary. A direct borrowing from Paleo-Balkan into Balkan Romance^[2] is even less likely, as the terms simply metathesised outcomes of Latin medietās, the Pan-Romance word for “half”.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɟysmə/
Rhymes: -ysmə

Noun

gjysmë f (plural gjysma, definite gjysma, definite plural gjysmat)

a half, ¹⁄₂
middle
Synonym: mes

në gjysmë ― in the middle
half sole
(colloquial) low shoe (i.e. not covering the ankle), low-tops
(colloquial) square headscarf for women
Synonym: shami
(archaic) Synonym of gjysmare

Derived terms

Adverb

gjysmë

halfway, partially
Synonym: përgjysmë

Antonym: plotësisht
half ... half. when repeated
gjysma mi gjysma zog ― half mouse half bird

References

^ Eric P. Hamp (1992) “Albanian”, in Jadranka Gvozdanović, editor, Indo-European Numerals, Mouton de Gruyter, →DOI, →ISBN, page 920
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “gjysmë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 139f.