vāks

See also: vaks

Latvian

Etymology

From the same stem as the verb vākt (“to collect, to gather”): Proto-Baltic *vāk-, from Proto-Indo-European *wāk-, *wēk- (“to bend, to turn, to weave”), from a stem *wā- (“to move (away), to move so as to bend, turn”). The original meaning of the noun was thus “(something) woven”, from which “(woven) basket”, then “(basket) lid”, and finally “lid, cover”. Cognates include Lithuanian vókas (“eyelid; envelope; large woven basket”), Old Church Slavonic вѣко (věko), Russian ве́ко (véko, “eyelid”), dialectal also “eyelashes, basket lid, basket with lid”, Belarusian ве́ка (vjéka, “cover, lid”), Ukrainian ві́ко (víko, “eyelid, lid, cover”), Czech víko, Polish wieko.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [vâːks]
(file)

Noun

vāks m (1st declension)

  1. lid, movable cover (to protect something)
    lādes, šķirsta, čemodāna vāks ― box, chest, suitcade lid
    atvāžams vāks ― movable lid
    muca ar vāku ― barrel with a lid
    motora vāks ― motor cover (= hood, bonnet)
    bagāžnieka vāks ― trunk lid
    pulksteņa vāks ― clock lid
    debesu, debess vāks ― the celestial vault (= sky)
    uzlikt kannai vāku ― to put a lid on the can, pot
    noņemt, atvērt vāku ― to remove, to open the lid
    katlam noņem vāku ― remove the lid from the pot
    būtu nepieciešams akai iztaisīt jaunu vāku ― it would be necessary to make a new lid for the well
  2. book cover
    burtnīcu zilie vāki ― the notebook's blue covers
    attēls uz ābeces vāka ― a picture from the ABC book cover
    izlasīt no vāka līdz vākam ― to read (a book) from cover to cover
  3. (only plural) folder, file (for documents, papers, etc.)
    aktu, dokumentu vāki ― paper, document folder
    iesiet, ielikt dokumentus vākos ― to put documents in(to) folders

Declension

Synonyms

  • (of "folder, file"): mape

Derived terms

References

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