svainis

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Latvian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Baltic *swaynya-, from Proto-Indo-European *swoini, probably meaning “ours,” “one of us”, from *swe-, *swo- with an extra in, from the reflexive pronominal stem *se- (one's own) with an extra -we, -wo (whence also Latvian savs). The meaning probably went from “one of us, one of our relatives” to “one who has become a relative (by marriage)” and was then restricted to “brother-in-law.” Cognates include Lithuanian sváinis (wife's sister's husband), Old High German swein (servant, shepherd) (< “one of us”), Messapic veinam (one's own (acc.)).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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svainis m (2nd declension, feminine form: svaine or svainiene)

  1. brother-in-law (one's wife's brother or one's husband's brother; also, one's sister's husband, or one's wife's sister's husband)
    tev pašam māsa un svainis strādā kaut kur kolhozāyour very sister and brother-in-law work somewhere in a collective farm
    Līzbetei daudz radu nebija... pilnīgi cerams, ka svainis Līdaks ar māsu Gerdu bērēs nebūsLīzbete didn't have many relatives... it can certainly be hoped that (her) brother-in-law Līdaks and (her) sister Gerda won't be at the funeral

Declension

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Derived terms

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References

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

Lithuanian

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Etymology

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Cognate with Latvian svainis (brother-in-law), from Proto-Indo-European *swoy-n(i)o-s, a derivative of *swe- (self).[1]

Pronunciation

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This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

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sváinis m (plural sváiniai, feminine sváinė) stress pattern 1[2]

  1. brother-in-law

Declension

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References

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  1. ^ Derksen, Rick (2015) “svainis”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 437
  2. ^ svainis”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas, lkz.lt, 1941–2024