See also: kuts

Latvian edit

 
Kūts

Etymology edit

There are diverging theories on the origin of this word. The most likely derives it from the past particle of an old unattested verb *kūt (to hit, to strike), whence also kūja (stick, pole) (q.v.); the original meaning would be “hit (one)”, “driven, stuck (into the ground)”, referring to the fact that primitive animal barns or sheds were little more than fenced enclosures made with poles or sticks driven into the ground (the farm buildings which inherited the name appeared only in the 9th-10th century). The original participle, probably an a-stem (*kūtas), became an i-stem (*kūtis > kūts), possibly under the influence of other i-stem farm building names like klēts (barn, granary), pirts (bath). Another hypothesis is that the long ū might come from an earlier un, in which case kūts would be related to Proto-Slavic *kǫťa (house) (Bulgarian къща (kǎšta, house), Russian куча (kuča), кут (kut, corner, nook)). The Lithuanian cognates (kūtìs, kū̃tė), however, have ū instead of the expected un, which weakens this hypothesis.[1]

Pronunciation edit

(file)

Noun edit

kūts f (6th declension)

  1. (animal) barn, shed, pen, sty (building in a farm for keeping animals)
    govju kūtscowshed
    putnu kūtsbird shed
    cūku kūts, cūkkūtspigsty
    kūts mēsli, kūtsmēslimanure
    dziļā kūtsdeep barn (provided with a manure storage space)
    seklā kūtsshallow barn (one without a manure storage space)
    sadzīt lopus kūtīto drive the animals into the barn

Declension edit

Derived terms edit

See also edit

References edit

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