miškas

Lithuanian

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miškas

Etymology

Of unclear origin.

While the dialectal term mẽdžias (“forest”) is cognate with Latvian mežs (“forest”) and thus from Proto-Balto-Slavic *medja- (“boundary”) (compare Old Prussian median (“forest”), Russian межа́ (mežá, “boundary-strip”), Czech meze (“between”)), mìškas cannot be connected with such certainty on phonetic grounds.

A connection with Ancient Greek μίσχος (mískhos, “stalk of a flower or leaf”) and μίσκος (mískos, “pod, shell”) is difficult semantically, unless we posit an original meaning of "trunk, bar" for the Lithuanian word.^[1]

As a solution to problems such as the above, Smoczynski proposes a hypothetical earlier meaning of "mixed forest (with both deciduous and coniferous trees)", and tentatively derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *meyḱ- (“to mix”), via the verb sumìšti (“to mingle”).^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmɪʃ.kɐs/

Noun

mìškas m (plural miškaĩ) stress pattern 4 ^[3]

forest (dense collection of trees)
(dialectal) wood or timber used for building

Declension

Declension of mìškas

	singular (vienaskaita)	plural (daugiskaita)
nominative (vardininkas)	mìškas	miškaĩ
genitive (kilmininkas)	mìško	miškų̃
dative (naudininkas)	mìškui	miškáms
accusative (galininkas)	mìšką	miškùs
instrumental (įnagininkas)	miškù	miškaĩs
locative (vietininkas)	miškè	miškuosè
vocative (šauksmininkas)	mìške	miškaĩ

Synonyms

(forest): giria; (dialectal, Southern Aukštaitian) mẽdžias

Hyponyms

šilas

Derived terms

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 958
^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2007) “mìškas”, in Słownik etymologiczny je̜zyka litewskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Vilnius: Uniwersytet Wileński, pages 406-7
^ “miškas” in Balčikonis, Juozas et al. (1954), Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 958

[2] Smoczyński, Wojciech (2007) “mìškas”, in Słownik etymologiczny je̜zyka litewskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Vilnius: Uniwersytet Wileński, pages 406-7

[3] “miškas” in Balčikonis, Juozas et al. (1954), Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.

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