prāvs

From the merging of two homophonous sources: on the one hand, borrowed from Slavic (cf. Old Church Slavonic правъ (pravŭ, “straight; innocent; correct, good”), Russian пра́вый (právyj, “straight; innocent; right-hand”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- “forward”; there are 17th-century attestations of Latvian prāvs meaning “straight”), and, on the other hand, an inherited term, from Proto-Baltic *prāvas, from Proto-Indo-European *prew-, *prow-, *praw- (“to jump”), from *per (“over, above”). The meaning would have evolved from “to jump” > “to jump (high), to stand out” > “outstanding” (a meaning still attested in 17th-century sources, in parallel to the aforementioned “straight”) > “large, big”. Cognates (from *prow-, *prew-, *praw-) include Old Norse frár (“quick, agile”), Old High German frao, frō, frawēr (“strong, agile, energetic”), German froh (“happy, cheerful”).^[1]

• IPA^(key):

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

prāvs (definite prāvais, comparative prāvāks, superlative visprāvākais, no adverb)

1. large, big, sizeable, considerable (having size, dimensions above average)

   lietus nogāzē izskalojis prāvus akmeņus, bet lejā sanesis smiltis ― the rain washed large stones on the hillside, but brought down (only) sand

   viņa paņem smalkos miltus un pienu, ņem prāvu bļodu, kur sagatavot raušiem virsu ― she got the thin flour and the milk (and) took a sizeable bowl where she (could) prepare the cakes

   večuks pateica, ka prāvāko sava mūža daļu nodzīvojis vecpuisī ― the old man said that he had spent the largest part of his life as a bachelor

2. large, big, sizeable, considerable (having many components, many members, many units)

   grupa sanāca prāva... pāri par simt vīru ― a group came, a large one... more than a hundred men

   bija salasījies prāvs ļaužu pūlis, un vēl arvien jauni nāca klāt ― a sizeable crowd had gathered, and new people were still coming

   prāvus līdzekļus katru gadu atvēl sociālistiskās sacensības stimulēšanai ― considerable resources were brought every year to stimulate socialist competition

   prāvu daļu ienākumu iedzīvotāji saņem no sabiedriskajiem patēriņa fondiem ― the (local) inhabitants take a large part of (their) income from

3. (of activities, events) large, strong, intensive

   Ogres padomju saimniecības cūkkopības kompleksa būve ir viens no prāvākajiem lauksaimnieciskās ražošanas pasākumiem ― the structure of the pig production complex of the Soviet farm in Ogre is one of the largest agricultural production undertakings

• liels
• milzīgs, gigantisks

• mazs
• neliels
• sīks