Definify.com

Definition 2024

dēls

dēls

See also: dels and Dels

Latvian

Dēls ar māti

Noun

dēls m (1st declension)

  1. son (a male child, in relation to his parents)
    dēls ar māti‎ ― a son with (his) mother
    jaunākais, vecākais dēls‎ ― youngest, oldest son
    pašu dēls‎ ― (one's) own son
    īstais dēls‎ ― real son
    vienīgais dēls‎ ― the only son
    brāļa, māsas dēls‎ ― nephew (lit. brother's, sister's son)
    dēls ļoti rūpējās par saviem vecākiem‎ ― the son takes great care of his parents
  2. (colloquial) son (a form of address used by an older person talking to a younger man)
    “Grobiņa tēv, vai tu domā, ka tava nauda nestāv droši?” Jānis jautāja; “... nu, dēls, par drošību, drošības dēļ nav ko runāt...”‎ ― “Father (of the) Grobiņš (= Mr Grobiņš), do you think that your money is not safe?” Jānis asked; “... well, son, there is nothing to say about, about security...”
  3. (poetic) son (a member of a people, group, etc.)
    Latvijas zemes dēls‎ ― a son of the land of Latvia (= a Latvian)
    dažādu tautu dēli un meitas‎ ― the sons and daughters of various nations

Declension

See also

References

  1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “dēls”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *dē-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰē-, *dʰeh₁(y)- ‎(“to suckle, to nurse”) (whence also Latvian dēle ‎(“leech”), q.v.); the original meaning was thus “one to nurse,” “suckling one,” “baby” (cf. Latin fellāre ‎(“to nurse”), filius ‎(“son”) < *fēlios < *dʰeh₁(y)-li-os). Cognates include Proto-Slavic *dětę (Russian дети ‎(déti, “children”)). The term dēls replaced an earlier *sūn(u)s, the original Indo-European word for “son” (cf. Lithuanian sūnùs, English son, Russian сын ‎(syn)). This is usually explained as the result of taboo: the ‘real’ word for “son” was avoided so as not to attract the attention of evil spirits. Note that the languages that lack a reflex of this original word (Latin, Celtic, Latvian) also lack the corresponding word for “daughter” (cf. Lithuanian duktė̃, Russian дочь ‎(doč’), German Tochter); this suggests that there may have been dialectal differences in Proto-Indo-European concerning words for children.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [dæ̂ːls]

Similar Results