putns

putns

Latvian

Putni

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Baltic *put-n-a, a morphological veriant of *putā- (originally “young bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōw-, *pū- (“small one, baby”). Another possibility is that the original stem was *pawt- “to father,” with Latvian pauts (“testicle”) (dialectally also “egg”) as a direct reflex; from the zero grade form *put- > putns (perhaps with the suffix -ens); in this respect, cf. Sudovian paud (“bird”). For these hypotheses, cognates include Lithuanian putýtis (“chick”), paũkštis (“bird”), Old Church Slavonic пътица (pŭtica), Russian пти́ца (ptíca), Sanskrit पोत (póta, “young animal, offspring”), पुत्र (putrá, “son, child”), Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”), Latin puer (“child, boy”). Neither hypothesis, however, completely explains the form of this word. A more recent suggestion is Proto-Indo-European *pet- *peth₂- (“to jump, to fly, to fall”), from which Old Irish ēn (“bird”) (< *petno-), Old High German fedara, German Feder (“feather”) (< *pet-er-), Hittite pattar (“wing”), Sanskrit पतति (patati, “to fly, to fall”), Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), πτερόν (pterón, “wing”), Latin penna (“feather”) (< *pet-na). From *pét-r-, *pet-n-és > *ptér-, *pten-és, where an epenthetic u would lead to *putne-, *puten- (cf. dialectal diminutive puteniņš with e), from which putns.[1]

Noun

putns m (1st declension)

1. bird (vertebrate animal of the class Aves, covered with feathers, with wings and often capable of flying)

   sauszemes, ūdens putns ― land, water bird

   jūras, meža putns ― sea, forest bird

   nakts putns ― night bird

   caurceļotāji putns ― migratory birds

   putnu pārceļošana, migrācija ― bird migration

   putnu spalvas, knābis ― bird feathers, beak

   putnu olas, ligzda ― bird eggs, nest

   putnu dziesmas ― bird songs

   putnu mēdības ― bird hunting

   putnu gaļa ― bird meat, poultry

   putnu kūts ― bird shed

   putnu biedēklis ― scarecrow (lit. bird-scarer)

   ceļotāji, gāju putni, gājputni ― birds of passage

   ziemotāji putni ― winter birds

   mājas putni, mājputni ― fowls, poultry (lit. house birds)

   putnu mēris ― bird fever

   izēdināt putnus spēkbarību un graudus ― to feed the birds silage and grains

Declension

Declension of putns (1st declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	putns	putni
accusative (akuzatīvs)	putnu	putnus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	putna	putnu
dative (datīvs)	putnam	putniem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	putnu	putniem
locative (lokatīvs)	putnā	putnos
vocative (vokatīvs)	putns	putni

Derived terms

• gājputns, gāju putns
• mājputns, mājas putns

See also

• knābis
• ligzda
• ola
• spalva
• spārns

References

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