māja

māja

See also: maja, Maja, majá, mājā, mają, and Mają

Latvian

Māja

Etymology

Traditionally considered a borrowing from Proto-Finnic *maa (“land, earth”) (compare Estonian maa, Finnish maa, Veps ma, Livonian mō); the meaning evolved from “earth, land” → “earth, fields close to a village, to (farm) houses” → “(farm) house.” This word was also re-borrowed into Proto-Finnic as *maja (compare Estonian maja (“house”), Finnish maja (“hut”), Livonian mōi (“home”)).

More recently, it has been suggested that Proto-Finnic *maa ultimately derives from Indo-European, cf. Sanskrit मही (mahī), Old Irish mag (“plains, field”) (from Proto-Indo-European *meǵ(ʰ)-, *mag(ʰ)-, whence also Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “big”)). In this case, Latvian māja might not be a borrowing, but a retention from Proto-Indo-European.[1] (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [maːja]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

māja f (4th declension)

1. house, dwelling

   dzīvojamā māja ― residential house

   stūra māja ― corner house

   ģimenes māja ― family house

   kalpu māja ― servants' house, farm workers' house

   vienstāva, daudzstāvu māja ― one-storey, multi-storey house

2. (chiefly in the plural) farmhouse, farmstead, farm and its buildings

   lauku mājas ― farmhouse, farmstead

   iepirkt mājas ― to buy a farm

   dzīt govis mājās ― to drive the cows to the farm

3. (chiefly in the plural) house, home

   braukt, iet uz mājām ― to drive, to go home

   uzkopt māju ― to tidy up the house

   mājas māte, mājasmāte ― the lady (lit. mother) of the house

   otrās mājas ― a second home

   sēdēt mājās ― to sit home

   justies kā mājās ― to feel at home

Declension

Declension of māja (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	māja	mājas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	māju	mājas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	mājas	māju
dative (datīvs)	mājai	mājām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	māju	mājām
locative (lokatīvs)	mājā	mājās
vocative (vokatīvs)	māja	mājas

Synonyms

• nams

Derived terms

• mājasmāte
• mājdzīvnieks
• mājlops

References

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