Latvian

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Spainis

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle Low German span (wooden bucket), likely from the same ultimate source as English span, similar to Swedish spann (pail, bucket).

This generated the dialectal form spanis, spannis; in Kurzeme, also *spandis > spaņģis (with ģ probably from genitive *spandya); compare Lithuanian dialectal forms spandis, spañgis (possibly borrowings from Kurzeme dialects).

Two explanations have been proposed for the irregular ai (instead of an(n)) in the literary form:

  • influence from dialectal (Kurzeme) *spainis, a variant of spailis, spails (set of fishing equipment), at first in Kurzeme, and later on spreading to other dialects; or a contamination between an earlier form *span(n)is and Livonian pàynal (wooden round container),
  • or its Ewe dialectal synonym paenas, paenal.

The borrowing is first mentioned as spanis, spannis in 17th-century dictionaries; by the end of that century, the variant spainis is also attested. In the first Bible translations one finds spaņģis. The literary form spainis progressed slowly: in the 19th century, J. Alunāns still used spannis, spanis; in dictionaries from the 1870s and 1880s, spainis was only a variant. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did spainis begin to dominate, when spannis, spanis was perceived (and avoided) as a Germanism.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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spainis m (2nd declension)

  1. bucket, pail (cylindrical metal, wooden, or plastic container with a handle)
    piena spainismilk bucket
    emaljēts spainisenamelled bucket
    nest ūdeni ar spaiņiemto carry water with buckets
    koka, alumīnija, plastmasas spainiswooden, aluminum, plastic bucket

Declension

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References

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  1. ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “spainis”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN