iazmă
Romanian
Alternative forms
- iasmă
Etymology
Uncertain; possibly from a reduction of agheasmă (“holy water”) (cf. the variant aiasmă), in that it was believed to ward off apparitions, and is thus used euphemistically; compare the expressions cruce'n casă or bată-l crucea, which refer to the Devil. Other proposed etymologies are less likely, such as Slavic jazva ("wound"), old German ethma ("spirit")[1].
References
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