grieti

Lithuanian

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrey- (“to smear, paint, streak”) (which Derksen reconstructs as *ģʰrey(H)-), and cognate with Ancient Greek χρῑ́ω (khrī́ō, “to smear, anoint”). However, the details of the word's phonetic development are unclear, due to the existence of related forms with kr- instead of gr- (such as krýtis alongside grýtis (“fishing sack”)), in addition to the Latvian cognate, krìet (“to skim”), exhibiting the same k-g variants as well as forms starting with k- being impossible to derive directly from *gʰrey-. The k-forms seem to derive from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to sift, separate”) instead, which is a well-attested root, muddying etymological waters further; it is possible that the roots of the k- and g-forms were confused and conflated early on in the development of Proto-Baltic, leading to semantic contamination. See also grýnas (“pure, clear”).

Verb

griẽti (third-person present tense griẽja, third-person past tense griẽjo)

1. (dated) to grab; to skim
2. (dialectal, dated) to fish (with a net)
3. (dated) to chase away
4. (dated) to spin

Usage notes

• Rare in modern Lithuanian.

Conjugation

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Related terms

• greĩtas (“quick”)