zinātnieks

Latvian

Etymology

From zināt (to know) +‎ -nieks. This word existed before zinātne (science); it originally meant “person with experience, knowledge,” “knowledgeable person.” It was first used in the modern sense (“scientist”) by J. Alunāns (dabas zinātnieks “natural scientist” in 1860; cf. also valodas zinātnieks “language scientist”, used by K. Valdemārs as a synonym of lingvists). It is possible that this usage of zinātnieks influenced A. Kronvalds to coin the word zinātne.[1]

Noun

zinātnieks m, 1st declension, feminine form: zinātniece

  1. (male) scientist, scholar (highly qualified specialist doing research work in some branch of science)
    liels zinātnieks — great scientist
    zinātnieks ar pasaules vārdu — a scientist with a world name (= fame, renown)
    mākslas zinātnieks — art historian (lit. scientist)
    mūzikas, literatūras zinātnieks — music, literary scholar
    zinātnieka karjera — a career in science (lit. a scientist's career)
    kabineta zinātnieks — an armchair scholar (lit. a cabinet scientist)

Declension

Related terms

References

  1. ^ Karulis, Konstantīns. 1992, 2001. Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca. Rīga: AVOTS. ISBN 9984700127.
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Last modified on 4 January 2013, at 07:13