Latvian edit

Etymology edit

From zināt (to know) +‎ -nieks. This word existed before zinātne (science); it originally meant “person with experience, knowledge,” “knowledgeable person.” It was first used in the modern sense (“scientist”) by J. Alunāns (dabas zinātnieks “natural scientist” in 1860; compare also valodas zinātnieks “language scientist”, used by K. Valdemārs as a synonym of lingvists). It is possible that this usage of zinātnieks influenced A. Kronvalds to coin the word zinātne.[1]

Noun edit

zinātnieks m (1st declension, feminine form: zinātniece)

  1. (male) scientist, scholar (highly qualified specialist doing research work in some branch of science)
    liels zinātnieksgreat scientist
    zinātnieks ar pasaules vārdua scientist with a world name (= fame, renown)
    mākslas zinātnieksart historian (lit. scientist)
    mūzikas, literatūras zinātnieksmusic, literary scholar
    zinātnieka karjeraa career in science (lit. a scientist's career)
    kabineta zinātnieksan armchair scholar (lit. a cabinet scientist)

Declension edit

Related terms edit

References edit

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