солома

Forms

соло́ма (solóma) f inan (genitive соло́мы, nominative plural соло́мы, genitive plural соло́м, relational adjective соло́менный, diminutive соло́мка, singulative соло́мина)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic солома (soloma), from Proto-Slavic *solma (“straw”).^[1][2][3] The East Slavic ⟨оло⟩ is the pleophony of Proto-Slavic /ol/ between consonants;^[4] Church Slavonic has Old Church Slavonic слама (slama).^[2] The word is common Slavic: Ukrainian солома (soloma), Belarusian салома (saloma), Bulgarian слама (slama), Serbo-Croatian слама (slama), Slovene slama, Czech sláma and Polish słoma.^[2][5]

Its cognates are Latvian salms (“a straw”), Old Prussian salme (“straw”), Old High German halm (“stalk”) with Old English healm and Old Norse halmr, Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”) with καλάμη (kalámē, “stalk, straw”), and Latin culmus (“stalk, straw”).^[2][5][6] Derksen reconstructs Proto-Balto-Slavic *sólʔm-;^[3] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *ḱolh₂mos, and Shaposhnikov the meaning “reed, jointed hollow stalk”.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The First Novgorod Chronicle, in its 13th-century manuscript, tells of the famine of 1128, when people ate lime leaves and birch bark and pounded moss „съ пелъми и съ соломою” “with chaff and straw”.^[7][8] Chernykh dates the word in Old Russian from the 13th century, in the sense “dry grain stalks left after threshing”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The 11th–17th-century texts use it for the stalks of cereals, legumes and other plants: a 13th-century manuscript of the Hexaemeron of John the Exarch says the straw will be fodder for cattle, and the Hypatian Chronicle, under 1255, has soldiers looking for wood and straw to set a town on fire.^[8][7] A 1615 deed gives солома ржаная “rye straw” to a priest.^[8] The word is in dictionaries from 1704, and its derivatives соломенный and соломинка from Weismann's dictionary of 1731.^[6][5]

Соломенная вдова “grass widow” is a joking name for a wife living apart from her husband for a time, and соломку подостлать “to spread straw” means to soften a blow in advance.^[9] In slang the word means “nonsense” and “roubles”.^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – съ соломою “with straw” in the First Novgorod Chronicle, under the year 1128.^[7][8]
• 13th century – солома as fodder in a manuscript of John the Exarch's Hexaemeron.^[8]
• c. 1425 – соломы in the Hypatian Chronicle, under the year 1255.^[7]
• 1615 – солома ржаная “rye straw” in a deed.^[8]
• 1704 – first dictionary record.^[6]
• 1731 – соломенный and соломинка in Weismann's dictionary.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. straw: the dry hollow stalks of cereal plants left after threshing.^[9][11][1]
2. The stalks of cereal plants still standing in the field.^[12]
3. (slang) nonsense; also roubles.^[10]

Word family

• соломенный
• соломинка
• соломка

Related words

• Old East Slavic солома (soloma)
• Old Church Slavonic слама (slama)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 713
3. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 459
4. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Bobrova, T. A. (2004), Škol'nyj ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка], 7th ed., Moskva: Drofa, p. s.v. солома
5. ^ a b c d e Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 2, s.v. солома
6. ^ a b c d e Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 354
7. ^ a b c d Avanesov, R. I. et al. (eds.) (1988–), Slovar' drevnerusskogo jazyka (XI–XIV vv.) [Словарь древнерусского языка (XI–XIV вв.)], vols. 1–13, Moskva: Russkij jazyk / Azbukovnik, p. 11, 426
8. ^ a b c d e f Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 26, 134
9. ^ a b Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. солома
10. ^ a b Elistratov, V. S. (2000), Slovar' russkogo argo [Словарь русского арго], Moskva: Russkie slovari, p. s.v. солома
11. ^ Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. солома
12. ^ Efremova, T. F. (2000), Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. солома