māte
Latvian
Etymology
From Proto-Balto-Slavic *mā́ˀtē, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”), where the initial *ma, *meh₂ may have originally been a child's call or nursery word.
Cognates include Lithuanian mótė (“woman, wife”, dialectally also “mother”), móteris (“woman”), mótina (“mother”), Old Prussian mūti, muti, mothe, Sudovian ate (< *māte), Proto-Slavic *mati (Russian мать (matʹ), Belarusian маць (macʹ), Ukrainian ма́ти (máty), Bulgarian ма́ти (máti), ма́тер (máter), Czech máti, archaic Polish mać), Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (Old Saxon mōdar, Old English mōdor, English mother, Old Norse móðir, Old High German muoter, German Mutter), Sanskrit मातृ (mā́tṛ), Avestan 𐬨𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭 (mātar), Ancient Greek μήτηρ (mḗtēr), Doric μάτηρ (mátēr), Latin māter.
Pronunciation
Noun
māte f (5th declension)
- mother (female parent)
- mātes mīlestība, rūpes, piens ― mother's love, care, milk
- māte un bērns ― mother and child
- daudzbērnu māte ― a many-child mother
- vientuļā māte ― single (= unmarried) mother
- mātes valoda ― mother tongue (= native language)
- mātes un bērna aizsardzība ― mother and child protection
- bērni palikuši bez mātes ― children left without a mother
- aizstāt kādam māti ― to replace someone's mother
- būt mātes cerībās ― to be in hope of mother (= to be pregnant)
- mazā meitenīte kā mazs cinītis sēdēja mātei blakus ― the little girl, like a little hill, sat next to (her) mother
- female individual of some animal species
- briežu, vilku, lāču māte ― deer, wolf, bear mother (= female)
- bišu māte ― queen bee
- (endearing) an older woman
- piesēdies, māt! — take a seat, mother!
- meža māte ― forest mother (= a mythical being)
Declension
Antonyms
Derived terms
See also
References
- ^ Kim, Ronald (2018) “The Phonology of Balto-Slavic”, in Jared S. Klein, Brian Joseph, and Matthias Fritz, editors, Handbook of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook, Berlin: de Gruyter, →ISBN
- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “māte”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
- māte at tezaurs.lv