nykštys
Lithuanian
Etymology
Cognate with Latvian îkšķis, îkstis (“thumb”), Old Prussian instixs (“thumb”). The form inkštys is attested in the writings of Jonas Bretkūnas, but his mother was a native speaker of Old Prussian, casting doubt on its Lithuanian authenticity.
More information
Possible etymologies for the Baltic term include:
- From Proto-Indo-European *enḱ- (“reach, attain, grab, carry”) (Sanskrit अंश (aṃśa, “part”)), Proto-Indo-European *onḱ- (Ancient Greek ὀγκόω (onkóō, “swell”), ὄγκος (ónkos, “bulk, mass”)), as conjectured by Toporov and Hilmarsson. According to Hilmarsson, the PIE reconstruction could be *h₁n̥- h₁n̥ḱ-ti-, and the Proto-Baltic term could be *inn(k)šti- or *nin(k)šti-.
- From Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“reach”), according to Derksen. The initial n- must have been lost in Latvian and Old Prussian under this theory.
- From Proto-Indo-European *h₂id- (“swell”) (cognate with Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō), Proto-Germanic *aitaz), with secondary -n- and intrusive k . By analogy with the derivation of English thumb from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”), cf. Latin tumēre
Similarities with Lithuanian i̇̀nkstas (“kidney”) and its cognates have been noted, and some have proposed those words either influenced the word for "thumbs" or share an etymology.
Noun
nykštỹs m (plural nykščiai̇̃) stress pattern 3
Declension
| singular (vienaskaita) |
plural (daugiskaita) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (vardininkas) | nykštỹs | nykščiai̇̃ |
| genitive (kilmininkas) | nýkščio | nykščių̃ |
| dative (naudininkas) | nýkščiui | nykščiáms |
| accusative (galininkas) | nýkštį | nýkščius |
| instrumental (įnagininkas) | nýkščiu | nykščiai̇̃s |
| locative (vietininkas) | nykštyjè | nykščiuosè |
| vocative (šauksmininkas) | nykštỹ | nykščiai̇̃ |
References
- “nykštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2025
- “nykštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
- “inkštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
- Derksen, Rick (2015) “nykštys”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 335
- Fraenkel, Ernst (1955, 1962–1965) Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume I, Heidelberg-Göttingen: Carl Winter and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 188
- Jörundur Hilmarsson (1983) “The words for "thumb" in Baltic”, in Baltistica, volume 19, number 2,
- Derksen, Rick (1996) Metatony In Baltic (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 6), Amsterdam: Rodopi, page 261