māja

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See also: maja, Maja, majá, mājā, mają, and Mają

Latvian

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 māja on Latvian Wikipedia
Māja

Etymology

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Traditionally considered a borrowing from Proto-Finnic *maa (land, earth) (compare Estonian maa, Finnish maa, Veps ma, Livonian ); the meaning evolved from “earth, land” → “earth, fields close to a village, to (farm) houses” → “(farm) house.” This word was also re-borrowed into Proto-Finnic as *maja (compare Estonian maja (house), Finnish maja (hut), Livonian mōi (home)).

More recently, it has been suggested that Proto-Finnic *maa ultimately derives from Indo-European, cf. Sanskrit मही (mahī), Old Irish mag (plains, field) (from Proto-Indo-European *meǵ(ʰ)-, *mag(ʰ)-, whence also Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, big)). In this case, Latvian māja might not be a borrowing, but a retention from Proto-Indo-European.[1] (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [maːja]
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

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māja f (4th declension)

  1. house, dwelling
    dzīvojamā mājaresidential house
    stūra mājacorner house
    ģimenes mājafamily house
    kalpu mājaservants' house, farm workers' house
    vienstāva, daudzstāvu mājaone-storey, multi-storey house
  2. (chiefly in the plural) farmhouse, farmstead, farm and its buildings
    lauku mājasfarmhouse, farmstead
    iepirkt mājasto buy a farm
    dzīt govis mājāsto drive the cows to the farm
  3. (chiefly in the plural) house, home
    braukt, iet uz mājāmto drive, to go home
    uzkopt mājuto tidy up the house
    mājas māte, mājasmātethe lady (lit. mother) of the house
    otrās mājasa second home
    sēdēt mājāsto sit home
    justies kā mājāsto feel at home

Declension

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “māja”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN