valgs
Latvian
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Baltic *walg-, from the o-grade form of Proto-Indo-European *welg- (“humid”), from the stem *wel- (“to press, to squeeze”) with an extra g (a parallel form *welk- with k gave rise to Latvian valkans (“wet and soft”)). The semantic change was probably from “pressed, squeezed (so as to become soft)” > “soft (also from other reasons, e.g. humidity)” > “humid.” Other ablaut forms gave rise to dialectal synonymous forms like velgs and vilgs, as well as the standard term vilgt (“to become moist, humid”).
Cognates include Lithuanian vìlgti (“to become wet”), vìlgyti, Proto-Slavic *volga (“humidity, moisture”) (Old Church Slavonic влага (vlaga), Russian влага (vlaga), Bulgarian влага (vlaga), Belarusian вільгаць (vilʹhacʹ), Ukrainian волога (voloha), Czech vláha), Old High German wëlk (“humid, soft”), German welk (“faded”), Old High German wolkan, German Wolke (“cloud”), Thracian olgan(o) (“humid”).[1]
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editvalgs (definite valgais, comparative valgāks, superlative visvalgākais, adverb valgi)
- humid, moist, damp, wet (having absorbed or containing moisture or vapor, being covered by some moisture)
- valgas smiltis ― humid sand
- valga zeme ― humid earth
- valgs māls ― wet clay
- valga loga rūts ― humid, wet window pane
- valgas lūpas ― moist lips
- valgi mati ― damp, wet hair
- augsnei, kurā audzē tomātus, jābūt valgai, bet ne slapjai ― the soil where one grows tomatoes must be humid, but not wet
- acis no asarām kļūst valgas ― (his) eyes become moist with tears
- humid, moist (containing more water vapor than usual)
- valga migla ― humid fog
- valgs rietumu vējš ― humid east wind
- valga vēsma ― humid breeze
- gaiss būdā pa nakti kļūst valgs no zemes mitruma ― during the night, the air in the hut becomes humid from the humidity of the soil
Declension
editmasculine (vīriešu dzimte) | feminine (sieviešu dzimte) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) |
singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) | ||||||
nominative (nominatīvs) | valgs | valgi | valga | valgas | |||||
accusative (akuzatīvs) | valgu | valgus | valgu | valgas | |||||
genitive (ģenitīvs) | valga | valgu | valgas | valgu | |||||
dative (datīvs) | valgam | valgiem | valgai | valgām | |||||
instrumental (instrumentālis) | valgu | valgiem | valgu | valgām | |||||
locative (lokatīvs) | valgā | valgos | valgā | valgās | |||||
vocative (vokatīvs) | — | — | — | — | |||||
Synonyms
editAntonyms
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
editReferences
edit- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “valgs”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN