ģints
Latvian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Traditionally considered borrowed from Lithuanian gentìs (“family, kin group, clan, tribe; relative”). But the Lithuanian form has en instead of in; in occurs only in some Eastern Lithuanian dialects. Also, in the 17th century, Latvian forms with in are attested in Semigallia (Zemgale), agreeing with the [in] in Old Prussian gyntos (“men, husbands”); it may therefore be that ģints was originally not a borrowing but an old Curonian word which later spread from Western Latvia to Semigallia. Note that older Semigallian dialects sometimes conserved initial ģ (> dz in standard Latvian): cf. place names like Ģintumi or Ģinuļi. If this is the case, then ģints, like Lithuanian gentìs, reflects Proto-Indo-European *ǵen- (< *ǵenh₁-) “to create,” “to give birth” (via an unaltered Proto-Baltic *gint-, where the initial g, instead of ž, results from either the influence of the related stem *gʷem-, whence also dzemdēt “to give birth,” or from conservative dialectal variants).[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]ģints f (6th declension)
- (history, anthropology) family, kin group, clan (a primitive unit of social organization, based on blood relations and lineage from a common ancestor)
- patriarhālā ģints ― patriarchal family
- ģints iekārta ― family order, organization, system
- ģints sabiedrība ― familiar society (i.e., composed of families)
- mātes ģints ― maternal, matriarchal family (where descent goes through the mother's line)
- tēvas ģints ― paternal, patriarchal family (where descent goes through the father's line)
- (poetic) people (group of people with common interests, ideas, goals, viewpoints)
- bet stāv pats nams! viņš dibināts uz klints, / un viņu sargā jaunā darba ģints ― but the house itself stands! it is founded upon a rock, / and it is protected by the young working people
- atceries, atceries varoņu ģinti, / ugunīs gāja tie vārtus tev vērt ― remember, remember the hero people, / they walked on fire to open the gates for you
- (biology, taxonomy) genus (a group of species)
- dzimtas iedala ģintīs... zaķu dzimtā ir divas ģintis: trušu ģints un zaķu ġints ― families are divided into genera... in the hare family (Leporidae) there are two genera: the rabbit genus (Oryctolagus) and the hare genus (Lepus)
- zemeņu ģintī izšķiram dārza zemeņu, meža zemeņu un spradzeņu sugas ― in the strawberry genus we distinguish the garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and the spradzene (Fragaria viridis) species
Declension
[edit]singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
---|---|---|
nominative (nominatīvs) | ģints | ģintis |
genitive (ģenitīvs) | ģints | ģinšu |
dative (datīvs) | ģintij | ģintīm |
accusative (akuzatīvs) | ģinti | ģintis |
instrumental (instrumentālis) | ģinti | ģintīm |
locative (lokatīvs) | ģintī | ģintīs |
vocative (vokatīvs) | ģints | ģintis |
Synonyms
[edit]- (of "family"): ģimene
- (of "household," "family + servants"): saime
- (of "extended family," "kin group"): dzimta
- (dated term): famīlija
References
[edit]- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “ģints”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
- Latvian etymologies from LEV
- Latvian terms borrowed from Lithuanian
- Latvian terms derived from Lithuanian
- Latvian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latvian terms derived from Proto-Baltic
- Latvian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latvian words with falling intonation
- Latvian lemmas
- Latvian nouns
- Latvian feminine nouns
- lv:History
- lv:Anthropology
- Latvian terms with usage examples
- Latvian poetic terms
- lv:Biology
- lv:Taxonomy
- Latvian sixth declension nouns
- Latvian noun forms
- lv:Family