kalps

Borrowed from Old East Slavic холпь (xolpĭ, “serf, slave”) (cf. Russian холоп (xolop)), itself a borrowing from Turkic (or, according to some researchers, a native word, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kel-, *skel- “offshoot, seedlings, stem”). The borrowing must have happened by the 13th century at the latest; the first mentions of this word are in 17th-century dictionaries.^[1]

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kalps m (1st declension, feminine form: kalpone)

1. farmhand, farm laborer, servant (a paid worker in a farm)

   strādāt par kalpu ― to work as a farmhand

   muižas kalpi ― the mannor's laborers

   pieņemt, atlaist, algot kalpus ― to accept, to dismiss, to hire servants

   kalpu klēts ― the servants' barn (= house)

   kalpa ļaudis ― farm workers (lit. farmhand people)

   kāds kungs, tāds kalps ― like lord, like servant (folk saying)

   kalpi bija laukstrādnieki, kas salīguši strādāt pie saimniekiem par algu (graudā, vēlāk arī daļēji naudā) ― farmhands were rural workers who were hired to work for a farmer for wages (paid in grain, later also partially in money)

2. (figuratively) servant (a person who works for some interest or cause)

   deputāts ir tautas kalps ― a congressman is a servant of the people

   dieva kalps ― a servant of god (e.g., a priest)

   tumsas kalpi ― servants of darkness

3. (card games) jack, knave (the card between 10 and queen, with the image of a young man)

   pīķa kalps ― the jack of spades

   kapteinis sāka dalīt kārtis, un Vilks izklaidīgi ņēma tās pretī... tur bija viens kalps un trīs dāmas ― the captain began to deal the cards, and Vilks distractedly took them... there were one jack and three queens

• kalpot