dzīt

The present stem dzen- comes from Proto-Baltic *gen-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to hit, to strike”), whereas the infinitive stem dzī- comes from Proto-Baltic *gin-, from *gʷʰn̥-, the zero grade of *gʷʰen-.

The original sense was “to hit”, still visible in dzīt naglu “to drive a nail (into wood)”. It later evolved into “to force”, “to drive” (somewhere). Cognates include Lithuanian giñti (present tense genù), gi̇̀nti (“to defend; to prohibit”) (present tense ginù), Old Prussian guntwei, gunnimai (apparently first-person plural form), Proto-Slavic *gъnati, present tense *žěno (Russian гнать (gnatʹ), Belarusian гнаць (hnacʹ), Ukrainian гнати (hnaty), Bulgarian го́ня (gónja), Czech hnát, Polish gnać), Old High German gund- (“fight”), Old Norse gunnr (“war, battle”), Norwegian dialectal gana (“to cut tree branches”), Hittite 𒆪𒂗𒍣 (kuenzi, “he kills”), Sanskrit हन्ति (hanti, “he hits, kills”), Avestan 𐬘𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌 (jainti, “to hit, to wound, to kill”), Ancient Greek φόνος (phónos, “mortal blow, murder”) (< *gʷʰon-), θείνω (theínō, “to hit”) (< *gʷʰen-yoh₂), Latin dē-fendō (“to defend”) (< *gʷʰen-).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [dzīːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [dzîːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

dzīt (transitive, 1st conjugation, present dzenu, dzen, dzen, past dzinu)

1. to lead, to drive (to make (animals, people, etc.) go faster, or in a certain direction)

   dzīt zirgus ātrāk ― to make the horses go faster

   dzīt zirgus aplokā ― to drive, to lead the horses into the paddock

   dzīt ganos ― to take (the animals) to pasture (to graze)

   dzīt govis ārā no labības ― to drive the cows away from the grains

   bet lopi gan jādzen no kūts ārā ― but we have to drive, move the animals out of the barn

   pa ceļu divas sievietes dzina sarkanu govi ― two women were leading the red cow along the road

   daži jātnieki aizaulekšoja dzīt kopā ciemniekus ― some riders galloped to drive the villagers together (= to make them gather together)

2. (of objects) to push, to pull, so as to make (something) move in a certain direction

   dzīt ratiņus pa ceļu ― to push, to pull a cart on the road

   nosēdies airos, Pičs ar vienmērīgiem un spēcīgiem vēzieniem dzina laivu uz priekšu ― sitting at the oars, Pičs with steady and strong strokes drove, moved the boat forward

   daudzi šīs brigādes vīri dzen tīklus Daugavā jau garu garos gadu desmitus ― many of the men in this team drove (= threw, cast) nets in the Daugava (= fished in the Daugava) for already a good ten years

3. (of inanimate beings) to move, to drive, to propel (to make a vehicle move)

   motors ar lielu prieku dzen laivu ar zvejniekiem pertī jaunam lomam ― the motor with great joy moved, propelled the boat with the firshermen to(ward) a new catch

   rudens vējš dzen lapu virpuļus ― the autumn wind moved, drove the leaf in a whirl

   nelaba jausma dzina Osi tālāk ― a bad premonition, apprehension drove Osis further

4. (usually together with prom, projām, ārā) to send (something) away; to make (something) disappear

   dzīt laukā no mājām ― to send away from the house

   dzīt prom no galda ― to push away from the table

   ienaidnieks uz mūžu projām dzīts ― the enemy for life (has been) driven away

   nekas, nekas, tas dzen reimatismu ārā ― no, not at all, this drives the rheumatism away

5. to make (someone) do something; to make someone do something (e.g., work) at full capacity

   dzīt pie darba ― to make (someone) go to work

   dzīt zirgus auļos ― to drive the horses into a gallop

   vagars dzen zemniekus, muižkungs vagaru un lielskungs viņus abus ― the overseer drives the peasants (= makes them work), the estate manager (drives) the overseer, and the landlord both of them

   tas bija steidzīgs pasūtījums; meistars dzina strādniekus un mudināja ― this was an urgent order; the master drove the workers (= made them work), urging them

6. (colloquial, of vehicles) to drive them at full speed

   dzīt mašīnu, velosipēdu ― to drive a car, a bicycle (as fast as it will go)

7. to chase (to run after, e.g., an animal, during a hunt, so as to make sure it goes in a certain direction)

   tagad sāk dzīt zaķi pa upes krastiem ― now they began to chase a hare along the river banks

   puisim ar suņiem jāiet apkārt uz viņu pusi un jāsāk dzīt ― the young man with the dogs has to go around to his side and begin to chase (the game)

8. to chase (to follow, to try to find, especially in a hunt)

   dzīt pēdas ― to follow (lit. chase) a trail

   jau vairākus mēnešus drošības dienests dzina pēdas nelegālai organizācijai ― already for many months the security service has been following (lit. chasing) the trail to the illegal organization

9. to drive (to force something into something else, usually with physical strength)

   dzīt naglu sienā ― to drive a nail into the wall

   dzīt mietu zemē ― to drive, to stick a pole into the ground

   pirksti steigšus dzen patronu stobrā ― (his) fingers hastily drove, stuck the cartridge into the barrel

10. to drive, to clear (to make (a path, a furrow) in a certain direction, usually via hard work)

    Albīns dzina pēdējo stigu gar meža malu ― Albīns cleared (lit. drove) the last firebreak along the edge of the forest

    izaugs dēls; un jaunas vagas dzīs ― the son will grow up, and he will drive (= clear, open) new furrows

11. to drive (to cause, to be the cause of something unpleasant happening to someone)

    dzīt postā, izmisumā ― to drive (someone) to misery, to despair

    dzīt nāvē ― to send, drive (someone) to death

    bet šis uzņēmums bija tas, kas Nagainim sagādāja daudz raižu un dzina aizvien dziļāk parādos ― but it was this company that caused great trouble to Nagainis, and drove (him) deeper and deeper into debt

12. (usually 3rd person, of plants) to grow new growth, shoots, sprouts (to produce as part of their bodies)

    dzīt asnus, atvases ― to grow sprouts, shoots

    līdzko augsne atkususi, sparģeļi dzen asnus ― as soon as the soil thaws, the asparagus grows sprouts

    pēc noziedēšanas un augļu nogatavošanās agave iet bojā, bet saknenis dzen jaunas lapu rozetes ― after flowering and bearing fruit, the agave dies, but its rootstock grows new leaf rosettes

13. (colloquial) to gather, to put together (by pushing, carrying, etc.)

    dzīt malku mājās ― to gather firewood at home

    dzīt mantu, naudu ― to gather riches, money

    saimnieks dzina iepriekšējās dienas pļāvumu vālos ― the farmer drove (= gathered) the result of the previous' days mowing into piles

prefixed verbs:

other derived terms:

• dzinums

From Etymology 1, a calque of Livonian ajjõ (“chase away”). Endzelīns has been critical of many suggested Livonian calques in Latvian, however, the semantic split of the verb dzīt "to chase away" doubling to mean "to shave" is convincing according to him. Compare Livonian abbiņi ajjõ (“to shave beard”), Estonian habet ajama.^[2]

• IPA^(key): [dzīːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [dzîːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

dzīt (transitive, 1st conjugation, present dzenu, dzen, dzen, past dzinu)

1. to shave

   dzīt bārdu, matus ― to shave (one's) beard, hair

Dzīt is the preferred term in the sense of "shaving with some electrical appliance", while "shaving with a razor" is usually expressed as skūt.

• skūt

From Proto-Baltic *gī-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷi-, *gʷey- (< *gʷeyh₃- “to live”). The original meaning was thus “to live”, from which “to become healthy”. At first there was an opposition between dzīt “to heal, become healthy” (present tense dzīstu) and dzīt “to live” (present tense dzīvu), but the latter form was later replaced by dzīvot, possibly originally its iterative form. Cognates include Lithuanian gýti (“to heal, to become healthy, (archaic) to live”), Proto-Slavic *žiti (“to live”) (Russian жить (žitʹ), Belarusian жыць (žycʹ), Ukrainian жи́ти (žýty), живи́ти (žyvýty, “to revive, to reanimate”), Upper Sorbian žić, Avestan 𐬘𐬌𐬙𐬌 (jiti, “life”), Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life; food”) (< *gʷiH-).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [dzîːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

dzīt (intransitive, 1st conjugation, only 3rd person, present dzīst, past dzija)

1. (of wounds, scars) to heal (to become whole, to disappear with the formation of new tissue)

   vātis dzīst ― the wounds are healing

   ievainojums dzija lēni ― the injury healed slowly

   visas brūces reiz dzīst ― all wounds heal once (= at some point)

2. (of body parts, organs) to heal (to become healthy again)

   Ošu Andram apdauzītais pirksts gan lāgā negribēja dzīt, bet akmeņu laušana tomēr veicās labi ― Ošu Andrs' injured finger would not heal properly, nevertheless the stone breaking was going well

prefixed verbs: