The Etymology of the Proto-Slavic *jarьmъ, *jarьmo ‘yoke’

Abstract

The article discusses the etymology of the Proto-Slavic word *jarьmъ, *jarьmo, which denotes a yoke that yokes two oxen. It is argued that this word reflects the original plural to the word for ‘arm, shoulder’ in Balto-Slavic. The formal difficulties of the derivation are discussed and a number of parallel derivatives in Slavic are analyzed.

Keywords

• etymology
• Proto-Slavic
• Balto-Slavic