stirna

See also stirnā

Latvian

Wikipedia ^lv

Stirna

Etymology

Usually derived from Proto-Baltic *šern-, *širn-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“upper part (head, horns, vertex)”), with an extra -n (from which also German Horn, English horn, Latin cornū and also cervus (“deer”)), which yielded Latvian archaic sirna. The presence of a t has given rise to various explanations: st- < *ts-; metathesis (sirna > *srina) with t epenthesis; contamination or influence from some other animal name, e.g., taurs; borrowing from a Slavic language with changes to conform to Baltic pronunciation. More recently, it has been suggested that stirna might come from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“red, pink”) in the reduced grade *sr̥-no-, causing t epenthesis in Baltic. Cognates include Lithuanian stìrna, Old Prussian sirwis, Proto-Slavic *sьrna (Old Church Slavonic сръна, Old East Slavic срьна, Russian серна (sérna), Ukrainian сарна, серна (sárna, sérna), Bulgarian сърна (“chamois”), Czech srna, Polish sarna (“roe deer”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA: [stīɾna]

Noun

stirna f, 4th declension

1. roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

   stirnu āzis, stirnuāzis, stirnāzis — male roe deer

   stirnu buks — male roe deer

   stirnu kaza, mātīte — female roe deer

   stirnu mazulis — baby roe deer, fawn (syn. stirnēns)

   stirnas pašlaik aizliegts medīt — roe deer hunting is now prohibited

   meitene viegla kā stirna — a girl as light as a roe deer

Declension

declension of stirna

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	stirna	stirnas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	stirnu	stirnas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	stirnas	stirnu
dative (datīvs)	stirnai	stirnām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	stirnu	stirnām
locative (lokatīvs)	stirnā	stirnās
vocative (vokatīvs)	stirna	stirnas

Derived terms

• stirnāzis, stirnuāzis, stirnu āzis
• stirnēns

References