dobs
From earlier *dobus, from Proto-Baltic *duob-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- (“deep”). In Latvian, former u-stem adjectives were assimilated into other classes; *dobus gave rise to both an o-stem and a yo-stem variant which later on became independent words, dobs and dobjš, with different semantic nuances (compare also, e.g., plats and plašs, or ass and ašs). Cognates include Lithuanian dubùs (“deep, hollow”), Lithuanian dauba (“hollow place”), Proto-Slavic *duplo (“hole, hollow”) (Russian, Ukrainian дупло́ (dupló), Belarusian дуплё (dupljó), Bulgarian ду́пло (dúplo), Polish dziupło (“cavity, pit”), Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐍃 (diups, “deep”) (< *deupaz), German tief, English deep.
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dobs (definite dobais, comparative dobāks, superlative visdobākais, adverb dobi)
In general, dobs is more concrete (“hollow cylinder”), while dobjš is more abstract or metaphorical (“hollow voice”).
| masculine (vīriešu dzimte) | feminine (sieviešu dzimte) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) |
singular (vienskaitlis) |
plural (daudzskaitlis) | ||||||
| nominative (nominatīvs) | dobs | dobi | doba | dobas | |||||
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | dobu | dobus | dobu | dobas | |||||
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | doba | dobu | dobas | dobu | |||||
| dative (datīvs) | dobam | dobiem | dobai | dobām | |||||
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | dobu | dobiem | dobu | dobām | |||||
| locative (lokatīvs) | dobā | dobos | dobā | dobās | |||||
| vocative (vokatīvs) | — | — | — | — | |||||