pilsonis

Latvian

Etymology

A 19th-century neologism, coined by Atis Kronvalds, who claimed to have derived it from pilst (“to be(come) full, complete”) +‎ -onis, following the example of mirt (“to die”), mironis (“corpse”). K. Mīlenbahs criticized it as an incorrect derivation from pils (“castle”) (compare German Bürger (“citizien”), from Burg (“castle, fortress”)). Kronvalds had indeed derived and proposed terms derived from pils for “citizen” (pilietis, pilnietis, which were not successful), but not pilsonis.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [pìlsuonis]

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Noun

pilsonis m (2nd declension, feminine form: pilsone)

(male) citizen (a legal member of a state)
Latvijas Republikas pilsonis ― citizen of the Latvian Republic

pilsoņu tiesības ― civil (lit. citizens') rights

pilsoņu brīvības ― civil (lit. citizens') liberties

ārvalsts pilsonis ― foreign citizen

goda pilsonis ― honorary citizen

pilsoņu karš ― civil (lit. citizens') war

Declension

Declension of *pilsonis* (2nd declension)
	singular	plural
nominative	pilsonis	pilsoņi
genitive	pilsoņa	pilsoņu
dative	pilsonim	pilsoņiem
accusative	pilsoni	pilsoņus
instrumental	pilsoni	pilsoņiem
locative	pilsonī	pilsoņos
vocative	pilsoni	pilsoņi

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Latgalian: piļsūņs

References

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

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

[1]