cūka

See also: cuka, čuka, and cūkā

Latvian

Cūka

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *kyaw-, *kyū-, from a palatalized version (perhaps by onomatopoeia, by imitating this animal's sound) of Proto-Indo-European *kew-, *kū- (“to howl, to shout; cf. kaukt “to howl””). A parallel, non-palatalized version is probably reflected in placenames like Kūkas, perhaps originally a region with many wild boars. An even further palatalized version (where *ky > *ḱ > *š > Latvian s) may have given rise to placenames like Sauka, or, with a different suffix, to placenames in -saule like Jaunsaule, perhaps even to Lithuanian Šiauliaĩ. A different (minoritary) theory derives čūka from an earlier *sūka, borrowed from Slavic (cf. Russian су́ка (súka)); another (minoritary) viewpoint connects cūka to imitative words used to call pigs, like Russian чух! (čux!), чух-чух! (čux-čux!), Belarusian, Ukrainian ацю! (acju!), Polish a ciu!, Latvian čuk-čuk!, Lithuanian čiùk-čiùk!, čiū́k-čiū́k! Cognates include Lithuanian dialectal čiūkà, kūkà, also čiūkùtis, kūkùtis (“piglet”), Russian dialectal чу́ха (čúxa), чухна́ (čuxná, “pig”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tsuːːka]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cūka f (4th declension)

1. pig (esp. Sus scrofa domesticus)

   mājas cūka ― domestic pig

   vaislas cūka ― breeding pig

   meža cūka ― wild boar (lit. forest pig)

   cūka kviec, rukšķ ― the pig is squeaking, squealing

   cūku kūts, aizgalds ― pig pen, pigsty

   cūku šķirnes ― pig breed

   cūku tauki ― lard (lit. pig fat)

   nobarot cūku ― to fatten a pig

   kaut cūku ― to slaughter a pig

   cūkas gaļa, cūkgaļa ― pig meat (= pork)

   cūka viņu sagaidīja sīkiem rukšķiem ― the pig greeted him with small squeals

2. female pig, sow

   cūka ar sivēniem ― the sow with the piglets

3. (figuratively) pig (a dirty, unhygienic person; also, a villainous man; colloquially also an unattractive female)

   viņu nosauca pazīstamu cilvēku klātbūtnē par cūku ― he was called a pig in the presence of people he knew

4. (only plural) the name of a certain card game

   “cūkas” jeb “duraki” ir kāršu spēle, kuras mērķis ir atbrīvoties no rokās esošajām kārtīm ― “pigs,” or “fools,” is a card game whose objective it is to get rid of all the cards in one's hands

Declension

Declension of cūka (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	cūka	cūkas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	cūku	cūkas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	cūkas	cūku
dative (datīvs)	cūkai	cūkām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	cūku	cūkām
locative (lokatīvs)	cūkā	cūkās
vocative (vokatīvs)	cūka	cūkas

Derived terms

• cūkgaļa, cūkas gaļa

See also

• kuilis
• sivēns