menca
See also: mencā
Latvian edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Baltic *menkyā-, from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (“to knead, to crush”) (> “to weaken, to make small, low-valued”); the full en remained in Kurzeme dialects (compare, from the same stem, mīksts (“soft”), mīcīt (“to knead”), where en > ī), from which it spread to other dialects. The semantic development suggests that this fish was seen as unimportant or low-valued. Cognates include Lithuanian ménkė, dialectal menkia; the same stem is also found in Lithuanian meñkas (“minor, small, unimportant, weak”).[1]
Pronunciation edit
(file) |
Noun edit
menca f (4th declension)
- cod, codfish (sea fish, family Gadidae)
- Atlantijas menca ― Atlantic cod
- mencu sugas ― cod species (plural)
- mencu zveja ― cod fishing
- mencu fileja ― cod filet
- kūpināta menca ― smoked cod
- menca eļļā ― codfish in oil
Declension edit
Declension of menca (4th declension)
References edit
- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “menca”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN