piens

Latvian

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Piens

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *pienas, from Proto-Indo-European *peynos, *poyHnos, from the stem *pey-, *poyH-, *pī- (“to be fat”) (perhaps from earlier “to swell”). The meaning evolved from “fat, swollen” to “(breasts) full of milk” and finally “milk.” This word has been borrowed from some Baltic dialect into Baltic Finnic (cf. Estonian piim (“milk”), Finnish piimä (“cultured milk”)). There was an old Proto-Baltic verb pīti (“to give milk”), from which Lithuanian dialectal pýti (“to give milk”); the corresponding Latvian term disappeared, perhaps because of homophony with pīt (“to braid, to weave”). Cognates include Lithuanian píenas (“milk”), Sanskrit पयते (páyate, “to swell, to be too full”), पयस् (páyas, “fluid, water, milk, rain”), Avestan pipyūši- (“having milk in her breasts”), Persian پینو (pīnū, “butter-milk”), Latin opīmus (“fat, plump; fruitful”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: [pīɛ̄ns]

Noun

piens m, 1st declension

1. milk (nourishing liquid secreted by mammal females)

   mātes piens, krūts piens — mother's milk, breast milk

   piena dziedzeri — mammary (lit. milk) glands

   govs, kazas, ķēves piens — cow's, goat's, horse's milk

   piena ēdieni, produkti — dairy foods, products

   piena kokteilis — milk shake (lit. milk cocktail)

   piena saldējums — ice-cream (lit. frozen milk)

   kafija ar pienu — coffee with milk

   pasterizēts piens — pasteurized milk

   kondensēts piens — condensed milk

Declension

declension of piens

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	piens	pieni
accusative (akuzatīvs)	pienu	pienus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	piena	pienu
dative (datīvs)	pienam	pieniem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	pienu	pieniem
locative (lokatīvs)	pienā	pienos
vocative (vokatīvs)	pien	pieni

References