spārns

Latvian[edit]

From Proto-Baltic *sparnas (with lengthening of the *a), from Proto-Indo-European *sper-no- (“wing”), from the stem *per-, *sper- (with s-mobile; or else the /s/ may result from the influence of the stem *sper- (“to twitch, to flicker”)), perhaps meaning originally “over (away from)”, then “carry (away)”, “fly (away)”. Cognates include Lithuanian spar̃nas, Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “feather”), Russian перо́ (peró), Ukrainian перо́ (peró), Bulgarian перо́ (peró), Upper Sorbian pjero, German Farn, English fern, Hittite [script needed] (partau̯ar, “feather”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “feather; leaf”).^[1]

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spārns m (1st declension)

(anatomy, of birds, insects, bats) wing (one of a pair of flight organs)
putna, tauriņa, sienāža spārns ― a bird's, butterfly's, grasshopper's wing

izplest spārnus ― to open, spread one's wings

sakļaust spārnus ― to close one's wings

spārnu vēzieni ― wingbeats
wing (plate-like appendage in a large machine that interacts with the environment (e.g., air, water))
lidmašīnas spārns ― airplane wing

kuģa dzenskrūves spārni ― ship propeller wings
plaque-like elongated element or part in a machine
velosidpēda dakšas spārni ― bicycle fork prongs (lit. wings)
wing (lateral part or extension of a building)
no vienas ēkas spārna uz otru ― from one wing of the building to the other

labajā spārnā atrodas bibliotēka ― the library is situated in the right wing
(military) flank
pulkvedis ar savu adjutantu piejāja līdz pozīcijas labajam spārnam ― the colonel and his aide rode up to (their) position's right flank
wing (a group of people, within a larger group)
filozofijas skolas radikālais spārns ― the radical wing of the philosophical school

Declension of spārns (1st declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	spārns	spārni
accusative (akuzatīvs)	spārnu	spārnus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	spārna	spārnu
dative (datīvs)	spārnam	spārniem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	spārnu	spārniem
locative (lokatīvs)	spārnā	spārnos
vocative (vokatīvs)	spārn	spārni

^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “spārns”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN