մամուխ

From Old Armenian *մամուխ (*mamux), attested in 5th-century մամխ-ի (mamx-i, “sloe bush, blackthorn”), of unknown origin. Perhaps a reduplication of an unknown root *մուխ (*mux), which is sometimes identified with մուխ- (mux-, “to drive in, force into, plunge”).[1][2][3] Compare Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “kind of plum-tree”);[3] Lak бухъ (buq, “sloe”) and its cognate Dargwa муръух (murʾuχ, “sloe”);[4] Proto-Abkhaz-Abaza *mǝɣǝ (“thorn”)[5] found in the name of several thorny bushes, including Abaza дзхӏвы-мыгъ (dzḥʷə-məɣ, “sloe bush, blackthorn”) and reduplicated Ubykh maʁǝ́ʁ-mǝʒ́ǝ (“a kind of thorny bush”).

The sense “vulva” developed because of the fruit's appearance: compare ծիրան (ciran, “apricot; vulva”). That sense is also preserved in the Romani borrowing mamúx (“sloe; vagina”).

• (Eastern Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [mɑmúχ]
• (Western Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [mɑmúχ]
• Hyphenation: մա‧մուխ

մամուխ • (mamux)

1. sloe (fruit)

   Synonym: կոկան (kokan)

   • 16–17th centuries, Eremia Mełrecʻi or Sargis Evdokiacʻi, Baṙgirkʻ hayocʻ [Armenian Dictionary] Մ.50:[6]

     Մամուխ· փափուկ, կամ միրգ բոլոր եւ սեաւ։

     Mamux· pʻapʻuk, kam mirg bolor ew seaw.

2. (dialectal, euphemistic) vulva

   Synonym: բունոց (bunocʻ)

• մամխի (mamxi)

• → Northern Kurdish: mamik, mamok, mamix, mamox, mûmix, mamûxe (“Prunus insititia”), mamoxa siyayî (“Prunus spinosa”), momix (“Prunus insititia; Prunus domestica”)[7]
• → Romani: mamux[8]
• → Turkish: mamık, mamuḫ, mamuk,[9] memük
• → Zazaki: mamuxe, momixe[10]

• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1913) “մամուխ”, in Hayerēn gawaṙakan baṙaran [Armenian Provincial Dictionary] (Ēminean azgagrakan žoġovacu; 9) (in Armenian), Tiflis: Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, page 748a
• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1977) “մամուխ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume III, Yerevan: University Press, page 244a
• Ališan, Ġewond (1895) “Մամխի”, in Haybusak kam haykakan busabaṙutʻiwn [Armenian Botany] (in Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, § 1951, pages 413–414
• Awgerean, Mkrtičʻ, Čēlalean, Grigor (1865) “մամուխ”, in Aṙjeṙn baṙaran haykaznean lezui [Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 537b
• J̌axǰaxean, Manuēl (1837) “մամուխ”, in Baṙgirkʻ i barbaṙ hay ew italakan [Armenian–Italian Dictionary], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 944a
• Malxaseancʻ, Stepʻan (1944) “մամուխ”, in Hayerēn bacʻatrakan baṙaran [Armenian Explanatory Dictionary] (in Armenian), volume III, Yerevan: State Publishing House, page 246b
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 446
• Anonymous disciples of Mxitʻar Sebastacʻi (1769) “մամուխ”, in Baṙgirkʻ Haykazean lezui. Baṙgirkʻ i grabaṙē yašxarhabaṙn [Dictionary of the Armenian Language. Dictionary from Old Armenian into New Armenian]‎ (in Old Armenian), volume II, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 250a
• Ananean, Mkrtičʻ (1769) “մամոխ”, in Baṙgirkʻ Haykazean lezui. Baṙgirkʻ yašxarhabaṙē i grabaṙn [Dictionary of the Armenian Language. Dictionary from New Armenian into Old Armenian]‎ (in Old Armenian), volume II, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 398a
• Pallas, Peter Simon (1784) “Prunus spinosa”, in Flora Rossica (in Latin), volume I, part I, St. Petersburg: Academy Press, page 18, recorded as mamuch