Etymology
1. From the convergence of two dialectal forms, nemt and jemt, from Proto-Baltic *nem-, *yem-, two parallel forms ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em-, *h₁m̥- (“to take”).
2. The reason for the existence of two parallel forms is unclear. There are several hypotheses: two independent stems that merged in pre-Proto-Indo-European; irregular palatalization of an original n- to y-, an irregular perfect form ni-em that became an independent word; derivation with (e)n- “in”, etc.
3. Cognates include (from the full form *h₁em-) Latin emō (“to buy, to acquire”); Old Irish arfo-emet (“they take”); (from the reduced form *h₁m̥-:) Lithuanian im̃ti (via Proto-Baltic *imtei), present imù, past ėmiaũ, dialectally present also jemù, emù, jamù, imiù, past imiaũ, jėmiaũ; Old Prussian imt, Sudovian emt (maybe *jemt?); Proto-Slavic *ęti, first person singular present *jьmǫ (Old Church Slavonic ѩти (jęti), first person singular present имѫ (imǫ), Russian dialectal ять (jatʹ), standard взять (vzjatʹ, “to take”), Ukrainian я́ти (játy, “to begin”), Czech jmout (“to grab, to begin”), Polish jąć (“to grab, to take”)); (with an initial n-:), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old High German nēman, German nehmen, Russian dialectal нять (njatʹ) (cf. standard Russian prefixed forms like подня́ть (podnjátʹ)), Ukrainian ня́ти (njáty, “to take”), Belarusian няць (njacʹ, “to take, to grab”). See: Latin '
emō', Proto-Slavic '
*ęti', Old Church Slavonic '
ѩти', Ukrainian '
я́ти', Czech '
jmout', Polish '
jąć', Old High German 'nēman', German, old spelling '
nehmen', Ukrainian '
ня́ти', Belarusan '
няць'.
Verbs referencing "ņemt"
Old English
niman.