kurpnieks

Latvian

Kurpnieks

Etymology

From kurpe (“shoe”) +‎ -nieks. An old formation, it was the example on the basis of which J. Alunāns suggested using the suffix -nieks more broadly to derive names of craftsmen.

Pronunciation

Noun

kurpnieks m, 1st declension, feminine form: kurpniece

1. (male) cobbler, shoemaker (craftsman who makes or repairs shoes, boots, sandals and other footwear)

   kurpnieku darbnīca — cobbler workshop

   kurpnieku meistars, māceklis — master, apprentice cobbler

   viņa skatījās uz manām kurpēm un teica, ka būšot drīz jau cauras, vajagot pie laika dot kurpniekam — she looked at my shoes and said that they would soon have holes and (that) it would be necessary to take (lit. give) them to the cobbler's

2. (usually in the plural) a game in which there is a dialogue between the participants and a person in the middle, at the end of which the person in the middle drops a stick and everybody changes places

   iet kurpniekos — to play this game (lit. to go in the cobblers)

   pa vakariem visi gāja kurpniekos un citās rotaļās — in the evenings everybody played (lit. went in the) cobblers and other games

Declension

declension of kurpnieks

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	kurpnieks	kurpnieki
accusative (akuzatīvs)	kurpnieku	kurpniekus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	kurpnieka	kurpnieku
dative (datīvs)	kurpniekam	kurpniekiem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	kurpnieku	kurpniekiem
locative (lokatīvs)	kurpniekā	kurpniekos
vocative (vokatīvs)	kurpniek	kurpnieki

Usage notes

The usual term for “cobbler” is kurpnieks; apavnieks is rare or official.

Synonyms

• apavnieks

References