елха

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *olьxa ~ *jelьxa (“alder”). Bulgarian descendants stem from variants with prothetic *j-, which has been subsequently eliminated (except dialectally). Originally, the word seems to have referred broadly to any deciduous tree or even generally to any arboreal plant. This sense was apparently used in naming the Christmas tree. Since Christmas in Bulgaria occurs during winter, the later is traditionally made of some type of evergreen conifer. Eventually, this caused semantic drift towards coniferous trees. The similarity to (etymologically unrelated) ела́ (elá, “fir”) may have also facilitated the shift. Compare Russian ёлка (jólka, “spruce”) (< *edlъka).