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”).

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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