arājs

Latvian

Etymology

Apparently a mixture of arējs (“(temporary) plowman”) and an unattested form *artājs, from art (“to plow”) +‎ -ājs. Cognates include Proto-Slavic *ortajь (Russian archaic ратай (rátaj), Old Church Slavonic ратай (rátaj)).

Noun

arājs m, 1st declension

1. plowman (person who plows the land (with a horse-drawn plow)

   arājs stingri turēja arklu — the plowman firmly held the plow

   arājs nāca tīrumā art — the plowman came to the field to plow

   arājs ara un gani ganīja — the plowman plows and the shepherds tend (the sheep)

Declension

declension of arājs

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	arājs	arāji
accusative (akuzatīvs)	arāju	arājus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	arāja	arāju
dative (datīvs)	arājam	arājiem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	arāju	arājiem
locative (lokatīvs)	arājā	arājos
vocative (vokatīvs)	arāj	arāji

Usage notes

The difference between arājs and arējs seems to be that arājs describes a profession, a permanent way of life, whereas arējs refers to someone (or some animal) who happens to be plowing now.

Synonyms

• arējs

Related terms

• arkls
• art, arums

References