auns
Latvian
Etymology
From Proto-Baltic *awinas, from Proto-Indo-European *ówis, from *h₃éwis (< *h₃éwi-, *h₂ówi (“sheep, ram”)). Cognates include Lithuanian ãvinas, Old Prussian awins, Old Church Slavonic овьнъ (ovĭnŭ), Russian ове́н (ovén). These terms are formed from *h₃éwi-, originally a term for sheep in general (possibly derived from *ew-, *Hew- (“to dress”), i.e. “(animal) dressed (in wool)”), with a suffix *-in to distinguish male sheep. Other terms derived from *h₃éwi- include Old Church Slavonic овьца (ovĭca), Russian, Bulgarian овца (ovca), Belarusian аўца́ (aŭcá), аве́чка (avjéčka), Ukrainian вівца́ (vivcá), Czech ovce, Slovak ovca, Polish owca (“ewe”), Gothic 𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌸𐌹 (awēþi, “herd of sheep”), Old High German ouwi, ou (“ewe”) (< *awī), Hittite ẖawi-, Sanskrit अविः (áviḥ), Ancient Greek οἶς (oîs), Latin ovis.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [àwns]
| (file) |
Noun
auns m (1st declension)
- male sheep, ram, tup
- ragains auns ― horned ram
- atšķirt, nošķirt aunus no avīm ― to distinguish the rams from the ewes (i.e., the good from the bad, the innocent from the guilty)
Declension
| singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīvs) | auns | auni |
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | aunu | aunus |
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | auna | aunu |
| dative (datīvs) | aunam | auniem |
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | aunu | auniem |
| locative (lokatīvs) | aunā | aunos |
| vocative (vokatīvs) | auns | auni |
Synonyms
- teķis
See also
- aita
- (dated term) avs
- jērs
References
- Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “auns”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN