miškas
Lithuanian
Etymology
Of unclear origin.
While the dialectal term mẽdžias (“forest”) is cognate with Latvian mežs (“forest”) and thus from Proto-Balto-Slavic *medja- (“boundary”) (compare Old Prussian median (“forest”), Russian межа́ (mežá, “boundary-strip”), Czech meze (“between”)), mìškas cannot be connected with such certainty on phonetic grounds.
A connection with Ancient Greek μίσχος (mískhos, “stalk of a flower or leaf”) and μίσκος (mískos, “pod, shell”) is difficult semantically, unless we posit an original meaning of "trunk, bar" for the Lithuanian word.[1]
As a solution to problems such as the above, Smoczynski proposes a hypothetical earlier meaning of "mixed forest (with both deciduous and coniferous trees)", and tentatively derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *meyḱ- (“to mix”), via the verb sumìšti (“to mingle”).[2]
Pronunciation
Noun
mìškas m (plural miškaĩ) stress pattern 4 [3]
Declension
| singular (vienaskaita) | plural (daugiskaita) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (vardininkas) | mìškas | miškaĩ |
| genitive (kilmininkas) | mìško | miškų̃ |
| dative (naudininkas) | mìškui | miškáms |
| accusative (galininkas) | mìšką | miškùs |
| instrumental (įnagininkas) | miškù | miškaĩs |
| locative (vietininkas) | miškè | miškuosè |
| vocative (šauksmininkas) | mìške | miškaĩ |
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
References
- ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 958
- ^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2007) “mìškas”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka litewskiego (in Polish), Vilnius: Uniwersytet Wileński, pages 406-7
- ^ “miškas” in Balčikonis, Juozas et al. (1954), Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.