mežs

Latgalian

Mežs.

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *medjas. Cognates include Latvian mežs and Lithuanian medis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmʲɛʃs]
• Hyphenation: mežs

Noun

mežs m (diminutive mežeņš)

1. forest, wood

Declension

Declension of mežs (type 1 noun)

	singular	plural
nominative	mežs	meži
genitive	meža	mežu
dative	mežam	mežim
accusative	mežu	mežus
instrumental	mežu	mežim
locative	mežā	mežūs
vocative	mež	meži

References

• M. Bukšs, J. Placinskis (1973) Latgaļu volūdas gramatika un pareizraksteibas vōrdneica, Latgaļu izdevnīceiba, page 124
• Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 108

Latvian

Mežs

Etymology

From earlier *mežas (genitive *meža, also yielding *meža-s by analogy), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *medjas, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle; in-between”). The original meaning was “(that which is) in the middle, in-between” > “forest” (since long ago villages were like little islands between stretches of forest, “what is between (villages)” = “forest”).

Cognates include Lithuanian mẽdis (“tree, wood”), dialectal mẽdžias (“tree, forest”), Old Prussian median (“forest”), Sudovian mejdo (“tree”) (< *mēdo), Proto-Slavic *meďa, *meďu (Russian межа́ (mežá, “balk, unplowed strip of land; border; (dial.) little forest”), ме́жду (méždu, “between, in-between”), Belarusian and Ukrainian межа́ (mežá, “balk; border; line”), Bulgarian межда́ (meždá), Czech mez, Polish miedza (“balk; border”)), Old Irish mide (“middle”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis), Old High German mitti, German Mitte, English middle, Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Latin medius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mɛ̄ʃː]

• Audio (Riga):

  (file)

Noun

mežs m (1st declension)

1. forest (dense collection of trees and bushes on a stretch of land)

   priežu, egļu mežs ― pine, fir forest

   stādīt mežu ― to plant a forest

   meža zemenes ― forest (= wild) strawberries

   meža zvēri ― forest (= wild) animals

   meža fauna, flora ― forest fauna, flora

   meža pļava ― forest meadow

   meža klajums ― forest clearing

   meža cirtējs, mežcirtējs ― logger (lit. forest chopper)

   meža ugunsgrēks ― forest fire

   meža aizsardzība ― forest protection

   mežā aug koki, krūmi un zem tiem dažādi sīki augi ― in the forest trees and bushes grow, and under them (also) several (kinds of) small plants

Declension

Declension of mežs (1st declension)

	singular	plural
nominative	mežs	meži
genitive	meža	mežu
dative	mežam	mežiem
accusative	mežu	mežus
instrumental	mežu	mežiem
locative	mežā	mežos
vocative	mežs	meži

Derived terms

• mežains
• mežmala

Related terms

• medīt
• mednis

References

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