menca

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See also: mencā

Latvian

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Menca

Etymology

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From Proto-Baltic *menkyā-, from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (to knead, to crush) (> “to weaken, to make small, low-valued”); the full en remained in Kurzeme dialects (compare, from the same stem, mīksts (soft), mīcīt (to knead), where en > ī), from which it spread to other dialects. The semantic development suggests that this fish was seen as unimportant or low-valued. Cognates include Lithuanian ménkė, dialectal menkia; the same stem is also found in Lithuanian meñkas (minor, small, unimportant, weak).[1]

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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menca f (4th declension)

  1. cod, codfish (sea fish, family Gadidae)
    Atlantijas mencaAtlantic cod
    mencu sugascod species (plural)
    mencu zvejacod fishing
    mencu filejacod filet
    kūpināta mencasmoked cod
    menca eļļācodfish in oil

Declension

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References

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