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Any relation to Tolkien's dragon Smaug?
The following is better here than in the article:
--Error 23:31, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
zmeu, zmei s.m. An essential figure of Romanian folk beliefs and folk mytology, with various benefic and malefic attributes, usually represented as a subterranean male in search of a human wife. The form has been held for a Slavic borrowing, even if a many details reject it; it closely related with zmeur, zmeură (see), which is NOT the result of hazard. Sl. zmьjь ‘snake, serpent, dragon’, from a radical *zmin its turn reflecting the root for ‘earth’, is not easy to explain, as IE *g[h(dh)em- ‘earth’, zero grade *g[h(dh)m-, resulted in Old Slavic *zem- ‘earth’, whereas the root for ‘snake, dragon’, *zmьjь, raises major questions, as Machek correctly observed. The archaic meaning must have been ‘being living on EARTH’, i.e. ‘human’ (in its etymological meaning, from humus), hence ‘man’, as in Lithuanian, where – from the same etymon – there is žmuo ‘man, human’ (related with Prus. smoy ‘man’). The similarity between Romanian, which preserves a Thracian (substratum) element, and Baltic (Lithuanian and Prussian) is normal. The indigenous character of zmeu is also supported by some attested Thracian forms: Zimi-, Ziemi-, Zemoin compound forms like Zimi-kenthis, Ziem-ices, Zemo-kontes, Zym-drenos, Zym-zdrenos etc. As in other similar cases (see under sută), we surmise that Sl. zmьjь seems a borrowing from either a northern Thracian dialect, before expansion, or from Proto-Romanian, during the first phase of expansion (as definitely sută and kъmotra are). See also zmeur (ă). The relation between zmeu and zmeur(ă) is essential in understanding the archaic origin of these forms. • See also rezema, răzema (re-/ră-zema).
zmeur', -i s.m. and zmeură, -e s.f. The plant Rubus idaeus (zmeur) and its fruit (zmeură); ‘raspberry; hindberry’. Der.: zmeuriș ‘raspberry/ hindberry bush’. Indigenous, from IE *g[h(dh)em- ‘earth’, zero grade *g[h(dh)m- > Thr. *zmeur- > Rom. *zmeur-. Similarly Lith. žem-uoga ‘strawberry’ (the plant Fragaria) (from žemė ‘earth’, cf. zmeu above) and Germ. Erd-beere ‘id.’, from Erde ‘earth’, lit. ‘earth-berry’. These examples show that both strawberries and raspberries were initially associated to ‘earth’; they also support the association zmeu –zmeur(ă) in Romanian as substratum elements. Probably most linguists have assumed that the relation zmeu –zmeură is the result of hazard; the etymological analysis clearly shows that they are indeed related as Urverwandtschaft.
Decius, I think the most probable etymology is that "zmeu" was borrowed from Bulgarian "zmej" as plural "zmei" and the singular form was reconstructed. AFAIK, this is not the only word were this scenario was followed. bogdan | Talk 15:46, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
I think the title "Romanian dragon" is not very good because zmeu is not the only type of Romanian dragon, as we also have the balaur. We'd better move it back to zmeu. bogdan | Talk 20:21, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
Hercules "retrieved" the golden apples only in the loosest sense; the apples grew in the Hesperides and were not stolen. Much closer analogies are: Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf, The Golden Bird, The Golden Mermaid, The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples. Though the zmeu does appear to be unique in that, from this article, it doesn't appear to be even bird-like. Goldfritha 17:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Has the Zmeu been somehow linked to vampires? I have read that its been the case. Heres the excerpt I found. Zmeu= Area from/Nationality: Moldavia. Vampiric figure that takes the form of a flame and entered the room of a young girl or widow. Once inside the flame became a man who seduced her The Unbeholden (talk) 18:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)
No matter how hard the Romanians try to prove that zmei is an Romanian or any other ancient fantasy word,it remains a non-sense and clear speculation. Daco-trakian languages are very unknown because they had no letter to write,and just a few tracian words are known for us."Zmei" is not from them. Zmei in russian, bulgarian and serbian languages means "snake". The word Zmei comes from the Slavic word for earth which is zemia. The root is proto-slavic rood "zm""zum". Zmei means a snake, or animal dwelling on the the earth (zemia),so that is called a zmei. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nix1129 (talk • contribs) 14:21, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
the zmei also were wearing armours and martels which they threw away and hanged on naildoors — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.27.104.111 (talk) 02:25, 1 April 2014 (UTC)