spriest

English

Adjective

spriest

superlative form of spry: most spry

Anagrams

spiters, Prestis, sprites, Sprites, stirpes, sitreps, priests, respits, stripes, persist

Latvian

Etymology

This word results from the merging of two stems: (a) Proto-Baltic *spriesti < *spried-ti < Proto-Indo-European *spreyd- (“to press, to squeeze, to block”) (cf. Sudovian cognate saspriziz (“squeeze, crush”)); and (b) Proto-Baltic *sprensti, from *sprend-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *sprend- (“to pull, to stretch, to jump”), from *per-, *sper- (“to pull, to kick, to scatter, to strew, to sputter”) (whence also Latvian spert and sprēgāt, q.v.). The meaning of the (b) forms, perhaps with some influence from the (a) forms, has become dominant, evolving from probably “to pull, to stretch, to drag”, via uses such as sprīdi spriest “to stretch a span”, i.e., “to measure (a span, a gap) by stretching one's fingers”, to “measure” > “evaluate” > “judge”. The (a) form meaning has basically disappeared in standard Latvian, but it can still be found in several dialects, where spriest can still mean “press, squeeze”, and in the standard language in some derived terms (e.g., spriesties, iespriest, saspriest). Cognates of the (b) forms include Lithuanian sprę́sti (“to drive, stick into, to squeeze through, to throw, to stretch; to tighten, to harness; to judge, to decide, to solve”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin (yarn)”), Russian прясть (prjastʹ), Ukrainian пря́сти (prjásty), Bulgarian преда́ (predá, “I spin”), Czech přísti, Polish prząść.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [spɾiɛ̂st]

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Verb

spriest (transitive or intransitive, 1st conjugation, present spriežu, spried, spriež, past spriedu)

to judge (to make or formulate an opinion, a judgment)
spriest patstāvīgi ― to judge independently

spriest pēc nostāstiem ― to judge by witness accounts

spriest pēc ārienes ― to judge by outside appearances

spriest par nākotni ― to judge on, about the future

viņš spriež pareizi ― he judges well, correctly

man par šo jautājumu grūti spriest ― I find it difficult to judge on this question

jā, nakts liekas vēsa... to var spriest pēc zvaigznēm ― yes, the night seemed cool... you could judge that by the stars
(law) to try, to judge (to decide a case in court, to make, to emit a judgment in court)
spriest sodu ― to pronounce (lit. judge) the verdict

spriest tiesu ― to dispense (lit. judge) justice

kā nu tiesa spriedīs, tā būs ― as the court will judge, so it will be (= it will be as the court decides)

krimināllietās tiesu spriež, pamatojoties uz pilsoņu vienlīdzību likuma un tiesas priekšā ― in criminal court, justice is dispensed (lit. judged) on the basis of every citizen's equality before the law and the courts

Conjugation

Conjugation of **spriest** (1st)
	indicative (īstenības izteiksme)					imperative (pavēles izteiksme)
		present (tagadne)	past (pagātne)		future (nākotne)	imperative (pavēles izteiksme)
1st person sg	es	spriežu	spriedu		spriedīšu	—
2nd person sg	tu	spried	spriedi		spriedīsi	spried
3rd person sg	viņš, viņa	spriež	sprieda		spriedīs	lai spriež
1st person pl	mēs	spriežam	spriedām		spriedīsim	spriedīsim
2nd person pl	jūs	spriežat	spriedāt		spriedīsiet, spriedīsit	spriediet
3rd person pl	viņi, viņas	spriež	sprieda		spriedīs	lai spriež

renarrative (atstāstījuma izteiksme)				participles (divdabji)
present	spriežot			present active 1 (adj.)		spriedošs
past	esot spriedis			present active 2 (adv.)		spriezdams
future	spriedīšot			present active 3 (adv.)		spriežot
imperative	lai spriežot			present active 4 (obj.)		spriežam
conditional (vēlējuma izteiksme)				past active		spriedis
present	spriestu			present passive		spriežams
past	būtu spriedis			past passive		spriests
debitive (vajadzības izteiksme)				nominal forms
indicative	(būt) jāspriež			infinitive (nenoteiksme)		spriest
conjunctive 1	esot jāspriež			negative infinitive		nespriest
conjunctive 2	jāspriežot			verbal noun		spriešana

Synonyms

(of "try in court"): tiesāt

Derived terms

prefixed verbs:

other derived terms:

References

^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “spriest^a, spriest^b”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca [Latvian Etymological Dictionary]‎^[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN

[1] Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “spriest^a, spriest^b”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca [Latvian Etymological Dictionary]‎^[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN

[1]