putns

 putns on Latvian Wikipedia

Disputed: Traditionally derived from Proto-Baltic *putnas, a morphological variant of *putā- (originally “young bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōw-t-, *pu(h₂)-t- (“small one, baby”), from or akin to the root *pe(h₂)w- (“little”). Another possibility is that the original stem was *pawt- (“to father”), with Latvian pauts (“testicle”) (dialectally also “egg”) as a direct reflex; from the zero grade form *put- > putns (perhaps with the suffix -ens); in this respect, cf. Sudovian paud (“bird”). For these hypotheses, cognates include Lithuanian putýtis (“chick”), paũkštis (“bird”), Old Church Slavonic пътица (pŭtica), Russian пти́ца (ptíca), Sanskrit पोत (póta, “young animal, offspring”), पुत्र (putrá, “son, child”), Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”), Latin puer (“child, boy”). Neither hypothesis, however, completely explains the form of this word.
A more recent suggestion is Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to jump, to fly, to fall”), from which Old Irish ēn (“bird”) (< *pet-no-), German Feder (“feather”) (< *pet-er-), Hittite 𒁁𒋻 (pát-tar, “wing”), Sanskrit पतति (patati, “to fly, to fall”), Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), πτερόν (pterón, “wing”), Latin penna (“feather”) (< *pet-na). From *pét-r-, *pet-n-és > *ptér-, *pten-és, where an epenthetic -u- would lead to *putne-, *puten- (cf. dialectal diminutive puteniņš with e), from which putns.

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.

putns m (1st declension)

1. bird (vertebrate animal of the class Aves, covered with feathers, with wings and often capable of flying)

   sauszemes, ūdens putns ― land, water bird

   jūras, meža putns ― sea, forest bird

   nakts putns ― night bird

   caurceļotāji putns ― migratory birds

   putnu pārceļošana, migrācija ― bird migration

   putnu spalvas, knābis ― bird feathers, beak

   putnu olas, ligzda ― bird eggs, nest

   putnu dziesmas ― bird songs

   putnu mēdības ― bird hunting

   putnu gaļa ― bird meat, poultry

   putnu kūts ― bird shed

   putnu biedēklis ― scarecrow (lit. bird-scarer)

   ceļotāji, gāju putni, gājputni ― birds of passage

   ziemotāji putni ― winter birds

   mājas putni, mājputni ― fowls, poultry (lit. house birds)

   putnu mēris ― bird fever

   izēdināt putnus spēkbarību un graudus ― to feed the birds silage and grains

• gājputns, gāju putns
• mājputns, mājas putns