menca
See also: mencā
Latvian
Etymology
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
- IPA(key): [mǣntsa]
Audio: (file)
Noun
menca f (4th declension)
- cod, codfish (sea fish, family Gadidae)
- Atlantijas menca ― Atlantic cod
- mencu sugas ― cod species (plural)
- mencu zveja ― cod fishing
- mencu fileja ― cod filet
- kūpināta menca ― smoked cod
- menca eļļā ― codfish in oil
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | menca | mencas |
| genitive | mencas | mencu |
| dative | mencai | mencām |
| accusative | mencu | mencas |
| instrumental | mencu | mencām |
| locative | mencā | mencās |
| vocative | menca | mencas |
References
- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “menca”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca [Latvian Etymological Dictionary][1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN