cirslis

Latvian

Cirslis

Alternative forms

Etymology

Derived from cirst (“to cut, to hew, to chop”), from Proto-Baltic *kir-, from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kr̥- (“to cut”). The semantic evolution was probably “to cut” > “to chop”, also “to gnaw, to bite, to pierce”, whence cirslis “gnawer”. Cognates include Lithuanian kar̃stas, kertùkas, kirstukas, Ukrainian черте́ц (čertéc).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [tsìɾslis]
  • (file)

Noun

cirslis m (2nd declension)

  1. shrew (mammal sp.)
    ūdens cirslis ― water shrew
    mazais cirslis ― small shrew
    ciršļa ala ― shrew burrow

Declension

References

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