Where does “смердеть” come from?
смердеть (Russian) comes from Old East Slavic смьрдѣти, from Proto-Slavic smьrdě̀ti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic smirˀdḗˀtei, from Proto-Indo-European (s)merd- — to bite, to sting.
смердеть (Russian): to stink, to smell bad
Ancestry of “смердеть”, step by step