See also: Lauva, Lauvā, and lauvā

Latvian edit

 lauva on Latvian Wikipedia
 
Lauvas

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Middle High German louwe (cf. German Löwe), from Proto-Germanic *laujan, a borrowing from Latin leō. It has been suggested, on the basis of Lithuanian liū̃tas (lion), Russian лю́тый зверь (ljútyj zverʹ, beast, lion), that there was an earlier Slavo-Balto-Germanic term with the root *liu-; if so, this term was lost very early on in Latvian, replaced by the Middle High German borrowing. First mentioned (as lavis, lauve) in 17th-century Bible translations. A family name Louvis is attested from the 16th century.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): [lāwva]
  • (file)

Noun edit

lauva m or f (4th declension, irregular gender, dative singular)

  1. lion in general (Panthera leo)
    lauvu mātīte, lauvenefemale lion, lioness
    dresēt lauvasto tame, train lions
    lauvas tiesathe lion's share, the biggest part
  2. specifically, a male lion

Usage notes edit

The term lauva is ambigenous. It is masculine when it refers to males and feminine when it refers to females. It is, however, always declined as a feminine noun, with the exception of its dative singular form, which is lauvam when it refers to a male and lauvai when it refers to a female.

Declension edit

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Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Livonian: louv

References edit

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

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

lauva n

  1. definite plural of lauv

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Noun edit

lauva n

  1. definite plural of lauv