Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱeym- ‎(“village, home”) (whence also saime ‎(“family, household”), q.v.), from *ḱey-, *ḱoy- ‎(“to be located; camp; abode”); the original meaning of ciems was thus “camp, encampment.” A parallel form *kaims (> kaimiņš ‎(“neighbor”), q.v.) also existed. Since Proto-Indo-European *ḱ should yield Latvian *š > s, not c, it has been suggested that ciems and all its Baltic cognates descend from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeyə- ‎(“piece, quiet”), or result from a borrowing, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz ‎(“village”); but there are rather many Baltic and Slavic words with irregular reflexes of *ḱ, which suggest dialectal differences or parallel forms (*ḱey-/*key-) already in Proto-Indo-European. Cognates include Lithuanian kiẽmas ‎(“yard, rural house, village”), kaímas ‎(“village”), Old Prussian caymis ‎(“village”), Sudovian aucima ‎(“village”), Proto-Germanic *haimaz ‎(“house, village”) (Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 ‎(haims, “village”), Old High German heim ‎(“dwelling, house”), German Heim, English home), Ancient Greek κώμη ‎(kṓmē, “village”) (compare κεῖμαι ‎(keîmai, “to lie down”))^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tsìems]