zelts
Latvian
Etymology
From Proto-Baltic *želtas (“gold”), itself from *žel-t-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“yellow; gleam; to shine”). (From a variant *gʰel-, *gʷʰel- comes dzeltens (“yellow”), which was also the original meaning of the adjectival form of zelts.) Cognates include dialectal Lithuanian želtas (“golden, blond”), Old Prussian sealtmeno (/zealtmeno/, “oriole (yellow bird)”) (from *zēltmeno), Proto-Slavic *zolto (Old Church Slavonic злато (zlato), Ukrainian зо́лото (zóloto), Belarusian зо́лата (zólata), Bulgarian злато́ (zlató), Czech zlato, Polish złoto), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “to be yellow, green”), Proto-Germanic *gulþą (Old Norse gull, Old High German gold, German Gold, Dutch goud, Swedish guld, English gold); compare also Persian زر (zar), Northern Kurdish zêrr.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [zæ̀lts]
| (file) |
Noun
| Chemical element | |
|---|---|
| Au | |
| Previous: platīns (Pt) | |
| Next: dzīvsudrabs (Hg) | |
zelts m (1st declension)
- gold (metallic chemical element, with atomic number 79.)
- tīrradņa zelts ― gold nuggets
- zelta rūda ― gold ore
- zelta hlorīds ― gold chloride
- zelta monēta, gredzens, pulkstenis, medaļa ― gold coin, ring, clock, medal
- golden (having the color of gold)
- zelta dzeltens, zeltdzeltens ― golden yellow
- zelta zivtiņa ― golden fish
- golden (very good, top quality, the best of its kind)
- viņš ir zelts, ne cilvēks ― he is gold, not a person
- zelta cilvkēs ― golden person
- zelta vārdi ― golden words
- zelta dzīve ― golden life
- zelta kāzas ― golden anniversary (50th wedding anniversary)
Declension
| singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīvs) | zelts | — |
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | zeltu | — |
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | zelta | — |
| dative (datīvs) | zeltam | — |
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | zeltu | — |
| locative (lokatīvs) | zeltā | — |
| vocative (vokatīvs) | zelt | — |
Derived terms
- zeltains
References
- Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “zelts”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN