iekša

See also: iekšā

Latvian[edit]

Abstracted as a singular, with independent meaning, from the plural iekšas (“guts, entrails”), from an earlier (and still dialectal) iešas with an epenthetic k, from Proto-Baltic *en-styā-s, derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en (“in(side)”). The adverb iekšā (“inside”) is the corresponding locative case form; in 16th- and 17th-century sources an old illative form iekšan is also used (from which is derived the old-fashioned preposition iekš). Cognates include Lithuanian įšcios (“(pl.) mother's lap; depth”), Old Prussian instran (“lard”), Old Church Slavonic ѩтро (jętro, “liver”), Old Norse istr (“inner fat”), Middle Low German inster (“slaughtered animal entrails”), Ancient Greek ἔντερον (énteron, “guts, intestines”).^[1]

iekša m (1st declension)

interior, inside (the space in the inside of a building, house, etc.)
rijas iekša ir melna ― the inside of the barn is black

nākt no iekšas ― to come from inside

dzīvot, strādāt pa iekšu ― to live, to work inside

durvis bija no iekšas ciet ― the door was shut from the inside
(chiefly reduced, used in compounds as a quasi-prefix) internal, inside, inner
iekšlogs ― interior, inside window

iekšdurvis ― interior door

iekšsiena ― interior wall

iekškabata ― inner pocket

iekšdarbi ― interior works
in, inside (of something, some object)
likt pēdas uz iekšu ― to put one's food in(side) (something)

zēni sabāzuši kopā, jaunākais rociņu satvēris dūrē ar īkšķīti uz iekšu ― the boys were packed together, the youngest one having clutched his little hand into a fist with the thumb inside

Declension of iekša (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	iekša	—
accusative (akuzatīvs)	iekšu	—
genitive (ģenitīvs)	iekšas	—
dative (datīvs)	iekšai	—
instrumental (instrumentālis)	iekšu	—
locative (lokatīvs)	iekšā	—
vocative (vokatīvs)	iekša	—

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