К этимологии названия города Мценск
On Etymology of the Town Name of Mtsensk

Summary/Abstract: The origin of the Russian town name of Mtsensk has several explanations, but all of them are inadequate. In this article, the author suggests a new etymology of the hydronym Metsna this oikonym is derived from: *Mĭcna < *Mĭt-sna < *Mĭd-sna < *Mĭdĭsna as a result of the fall of the weak jer and its circumstances (assimilation, simplification) < Baltic *med- ‘forest’ + the hydronymical formant -sna coming from the Common Baltic nominal suffix *-sen-. Both these segments are very frequent in river names. The etymologization of this name is complicated by the fact that it is represented in two variants ‒ with c and č ‒ in the Old Russian written sources. We consider the variant with c to be original: this conclusion is approved both by chronology of its historical records and by parallels in the Russian hydronymics. The appearance of the variant with č is due to cokanje/čokanje: this dialectical phenomenon occurs in all chronicles in which the variant with č is attested. The vowel e after c in the derived, adjective stem of this town name is secondary, epenthetic as well as it is in the adjective censkiĭ < the river name Cna < Baltic *tusna- ‘quiet’; otherwise, it would change to č by palatalization. The variety of vowel usage in the forms of this town name, recorded in the Russian chronicles, is caused by the competition of the nominative and the oblique declension paradigms, that is characteristic for oikonyms with the suffix *-ĭsk-.

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