tāfele

• (dialectal or colloquial form) tāpele

Borrowed from German Tafel (“blackboard”), itself from Middle Low German tavel, tavele, from Old High German tavala, borrowed from Latin tabula (“plank, board; tablet”). The first occurrences are in 19th-century Latvian literature. (J. Endzelīns preferred the variant tāpele, since it was closer to the original Latin source.)^[1]

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tāfele f (5th declension)

1. blackboard, chalkboard, whiteboard (rectangular surface normally used for writing for others to read)

   skolas tāfele ― school blackboard

   izsaukt pie tāfeles ― to call (a student) to the blackboard

   iet pie tāfeles ― to go to the blackboard

   rakstīt uz tāfeles ― to write on the blackboard

   noslaucīt tāfeli ― to erase, to wipe the blackboard (clean)

   pie tāfeles stāvēja Adatiņš un atbildēja latviešu valodu ― Adatiņš stood at the blackboard and answered/recited the Latvian language (lesson)

2. bar (a small portion of food, especially chocolate, in rectangular form)

   šokolādes tāfele ― chocolate bar

   Ingeborgas dzimšanas dienas rītā manā “Varoņa” mugursomā blakus mācību līdzekļiem tika ievietota zīdpapīrā ietīta šokolādes “Skaistā Latvija” tāfele; tā bija cienīga dāvana ― in the morning of Ingeborga's birthday, a bar of “Skaistā Latvija” (= “Beautiful Latvia”) chocolate, wrapped in silk paper, was placed in my backpack next to the schoolbooks; that was a worthy gift