mežs

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *medjas. Cognates include Latvian mežs and Lithuanian medis.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmʲɛʃs]
• Hyphenation: mežs

mežs m (diminutive mežeņš)

1. forest, wood

• M. Bukšs; J. Placinskis (1973) Latgaļu volūdas gramatika un pareizraksteibas vōrdneica, Latgaļu izdevnīceiba, page 124
• Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 108

From earlier *mežas, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *medjas (genitive *meža, also yielding *meža-s by analogy), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle; in-between”). The original meaning was “(that which is) in the middle, in-between” > “forest” (since long ago villages were like little islands between stretches of forest, “what is between (villages)” = “forest”). Cognates include Lithuanian mẽdis (“tree, wood”), dialectal mẽdžias (“tree, forest”), Old Prussian median (“forest”), Sudovian mejdo (“tree”) (< *mēdo), Proto-Slavic *meďa, *meďu (Russian межа́ (mežá, “balk, unplowed strip of land; border; (dial.) little forest”), ме́жду (méždu, “between, in-between”), Belarusian and Ukrainian межа́ (mežá, “balk; border; line”), Bulgarian межда́ (meždá), Czech mez, Polish miedza (“balk; border”)), Old Irish mide (“middle”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis), Old High German mitti, German Mitte, English middle, Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos), Latin medius.

• IPA^(key): [mɛ̄ʃː]

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mežs m (1st declension)

1. forest (dense collection of trees and bushes on a stretch of land)

   priežu, egļu mežs ― pine, fir forest

   stādīt mežu ― to plant a forest

   meža zemenes ― forest (= wild) strawberries

   meža zvēri ― forest (= wild) animals

   meža fauna, flora ― forest fauna, flora

   meža pļava ― forest meadow

   meža klajums ― forest clearing

   meža cirtējs, mežcirtējs ― logger (lit. forest chopper)

   meža ugunsgrēks ― forest fire

   meža aizsardzība ― forest protection

   mežā aug koki, krūmi un zem tiem dažādi sīki augi ― in the forest trees and bushes grow, and under them (also) several (kinds of) small plants

• Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “mežs”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN