Etymology of 'Месечина'

[Liberator of Makedonija]

I was wondering if anyone could give me the etymology of this word? Considering it's very different to what 'moon' is in most other European languages and is very different to the Bulgarian equivalent (Луна). I draw attention to the Bulgarian word because Bulgarian is probably the closest language to Macedonian and a lot of the etymology of our words is similar but somehow they ended up with the Latin word (Luna) and we ended up with something completely different. I know in Serbian the word is 'Месец' which is closer to 'Месечина' but still quite different. The other closest equivalents I could are as follows:

Belarusian: месяц*
Ukrainian: місяць*
Czech: měsíc
Slovak: mesiac
Bosnian/Croatian: mjesec


*It should be noted that the Belarusian and Ukrainian words for 'moon' differ quite a lot from the Russian, considering how closely related the three languages are (some linguists would argue they are the one language). The Russian word for 'moon' is 'Луна', the same as Bulgarian. I have often said (as others) that Bulgarian was heavily influenced by Russian and wonder if that is how they ended up with 'Луна' which is very different from its closest neighbours, Serbian and Macedonian.

[vicsinad]

Good observation. We have 'mesec' for month and 'mesechina' for moon. One is derived from the other because there is approximately one full moon every month. So maybe looking at both the terms for moon and month will help?

Month in following languages:
Bulgarian = mesec
Russian - mesjac
Serbian = mesec
Croatian - mjesec
Spanish = mes
Italian = mese
Latin = mense

Two observations I noted: Serbian and Croatian use the same word for moon as they use for month in their respective languages. Many languages that use some version of luna for moon still use some variation of mes- for month.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Originally Posted by vicsinad

Good observation. We have 'mesec' for month and 'mesechina' for moon. One is derived from the other because there is approximately one full moon every month. So maybe looking at both the terms for moon and month will help?

Month in following languages:
Bulgarian = mesec
Russian - mesjac
Serbian = mesec
Croatian - mjesec
Spanish = mes
Italian = mese
Latin = mense

Two observations I noted: Serbian and Croatian use the same word for moon as they use for month in their respective languages. Many languages that use some version of luna for moon still use some variation of mes- for month.

I can't believe I didn't pick up on that! Good observation vicsinad.

[Toska]

menstrual, womens monthly period also has the same meaning

late Middle English: from Latin menstrualis, from menstruum ‘menses’, from mensis ‘month’.

mensis and meces sound pretty much the same, what came first the chicken or the egg ??

[Risto the Great]

And menstrual sounds like monster for obvious reasons. ^_^

[Soldier of Macedon]

Many languages in general have either the same or similar words for month and moon, such as Turkish 'ay', Filipino 'buwan', even Zulu 'inyanga'. In all three of those languages, it is the same word for both moon and month. The Macedonian words mesec and mesechina ultimately stem from Proto Indo-European *meH₁ns, which also supposedly means both moon and month.

Originally Posted by Liberator of Makedonija

The Russian word for 'moon' is 'Луна', the same as Bulgarian. I have often said (as others) that Bulgarian was heavily influenced by Russian and wonder if that is how they ended up with 'Луна'......

Bulgarian was heavily influenced by Russian, of that there is no doubt, and 'luna' is most likely a Russian borrowing into Bulgarian.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Originally Posted by Soldier of Macedon

Bulgarian was heavily influenced by Russian, of that there is no doubt, and 'luna' is most likely a Russian borrowing into Bulgarian.

Glad you share my theory there SoM.