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knašs

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Latvian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Baltic *knas- (which, with *-yos, yields *knaš-yos > knašs), from Proto-Indo-European *kn-es-, *kn-os-, from the zero grade of *ken- (to try, to hurry, to move). A different hypothesis is that knašs might originally result from methatesis on nasks (q.v.). A third possibility is that it was a borrowing from Baltic German knasch (hurried, quick, agile), although it is also quite possible that knasch was borrowed from Latvian knašs, since it was only found in Baltic varieties of German. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἐγκονέω (enkonéō, to hurry, to be quick and active), Latin cōnor (to try, to attempt).[1]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [knaʃ]
  • Audio:(file)

Adjective

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knašs (definite knašais, comparative knašāks, superlative visknašākais, adverb knaši)

  1. quick, fast, swift; also, agile
    knaša meiteneswift, quick girl
    knašs zēnsswift, quck boy
    iet knašiem soļiemto go with quick, swift steps
    saskubintās knašam riksim, zirgs drīz vien mēgināja pāriet gausākā solīspurred into a quick canter, the horse soon tried to shift to a slower pace

Declension

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Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “knašs”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN