jedyn (Silesian)
Where does "jedyn" come from?
The Silesian word 'jedyn' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos, which eventually evolved into the Proto-Slavic *edìnъ. From there, it passed into Old Polish as 'jeden' before finding its modern form in Silesian. Throughout this long journey, the word has consistently maintained its fundamental meaning of 'one'.
Full etymology tree
- jedyn (Silesian), 'one'
- inherited jeden (Old Polish), 'one'
- inherited *edìnъ (Proto-Slavic), 'one'
- inherited *edīˀnas (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- derived *h₁edʰ-(H)iHnos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁óy(H)nos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁edʰ-(H)iHnos (Proto-Indo-European)
- influence *(h₁)é (Proto-Indo-European)
- influence *ís (Proto-Indo-European), 'this, he (used as the 3rd person pronoun)'
- inherited *edīˀnas (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *edìnъ (Proto-Slavic), 'one'
- inherited jeden (Old Polish), 'one'
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris