meita

== Latgalian == === Etymology === Uncertain. A few possibilities are: Borrowed from a West Germanic language (compare Middle Low German meid and Middle High German meyt). From Proto-Indo-European *mēy- (“soft, tender”), via an adjective in the form of *meits (“tender, loved”). From the verb meit (“to change”). The semantic shift would be "changing (of status, via marriage)" > "young woman about to be married" > "unmarried woman". Akin to Latvian meita. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈmʲæ̂i̯ta] Hyphenation: mei‧ta === Noun === meita f (diminutive meiteņa) daughter girl, lass ==== Declension ==== ==== Synonyms ==== (dated) mārga ==== Coordinate terms ==== dāls (“son”) ==== Derived terms ==== === References === A. Andronov; L. Leikuma (2008), Latgalīšu-Latvīšu-Krīvu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, →ISBN, page 10 Nicole Nau (2011), A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 10 == Latvian == === Etymology === Traditionally, this word is considered borrowed from Middle Low German meid (“female servant”) (or from Middle High German meyt, meyde, or Middle Dutch meit), which replaced an older Proto-Indo-European word, probably *dukte, cognate with Lithuanian duktė̃, Old Prussian duckti, Russian дочь (doč’), German Tochter, English daughter (< Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr). It has, however, been pointed out that (a) the meaning “daughter” is older (“servant” is attested only from the 19th century), which is the opposite of what should happen if it were a borrowing from Germanic; (b) the broken intonation is not usual in borrowings from Germanic; and (c) the presumed original word *dukte has left no trace in place names, dialectal forms, etc. On account of that, some researchers believe that meita is not a borrowing, but actually the original word for “daughter” in Latvian, i.e. Latvian did not derive “daughter” from Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr (like Latin, which has fīlia). A possible source would be Proto-Indo-European *mēy- (“soft, tender, dear”), with an extra t; meita would have originally been the feminine form of the resulting adjective *meits (“tender, dear, loved”). Another possibility would be the same stem as mīt (“to change”): the original meaning would have been “changing (status, via marriage)” > “young woman about to get married” > “unmarried young woman; daughter.” === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈmɛî̯ta] === Noun === meîta f (4th declension) daughter (a female child, with respect to her parents) māte un meita ― mother and daughter vecākā, jaunākā meita ― the oldest, the youngest daughter vienīgā meita ― the only daughter māsas meita ― sister's daughter (= niece) mātei bija divi dēli un trīs meitas ― the mother had two sons and three daughters onkulim ir meita, agronome Kurzemē ― uncle has a daughter, an agronomist in Courland (usually meitene) young, unmarried woman meitas dienas ― young woman's days (i.e., before marriage) meitas uzvārds ― maiden (lit. young woman's) name meža meitas ― forest girls (= mythological beings) meitu mednieks ― young woman hunter (a man who uses every chance to start a love affair) jā, viņa, mana māte, bijusi daiļa meita, un daudzi jaunekļi viņu kārojuši sev par sievu ― yes, she, my mother, was a beautiful young woman, and many young men wanted her as their wife “parunā gan, meit”, Pakalns dzīvi atsaucās; “tev viņi vairāk klausīs” ― “talk now, girl,” Pakalns answered lively; “they will hear you further” female servant, usually unmarried muižas meita ― mannor servant vasaras meita ― summer girl (= hired for the summer) istabas meita ― room maid saimniece pie tā paša brauciena gribēja apraudzīties un apklausīties pēc jaunas meitas ― the lady wanted, in the same trip, to come see and hear the new servants (poetic) daughter (a member of a people, ethnic group, etc.) dažādu tautu dēli un meitas ― the sons and daughters of various nations ==== Declension ==== ==== Synonyms ==== (of "girl"): meitenīte (of "young, unmarried woman"): meita, meitene, skuķis, skuķe (of "female servant"): kalpone ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “of "daughter"”): dēls (antonym(s) of “of "girl"”): zēns, zeņķis, puika, puisis, puisēns, puisītis (antonym(s) of “of "female servant"”): puisis, kalps ==== Derived terms ==== brāļameita (“fraternal niece”) ielasmeita (“prostitute”) meitene, meitenīte === References === == Veps == === Pronoun === meita abessive of mö