meita

Traditionally, this word is considered borrowed from Middle Low German meid (“female servant”) (or from Middle High German meyt, meyde, or Middle Dutch meit), which replaced an older Proto-Indo-European word, probably *dukte, cognate with Lithuanian duktė̃, Old Prussian duckti, Russian дочь (doč’), German Tochter, English daughter (< Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr). It has, however, been pointed out that (a) the meaning “daughter” is older (“servant” is attested only from the 19th century), which is the opposite of what should happen if it were a borrowing from Germanic; (b) the broken intonation is not usual in borrowings from Germanic; and (c) the presumed original word *dukte has left no trace in place names, dialectal forms, etc. On account of that, some researchers believe that meita is not a borrowing, but actually the original word for “daughter” in Latvian, i.e. Latvian did not derive “daughter” from Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr (like Latin, which has fīlia). A possible source would be Proto-Indo-European *mēy- (“soft, tender, dear”), with an extra t; meita would have originally been the feminine form of the resulting adjective *meits (“tender, dear, loved”). Another possibility would be the same stem as mīt (“to change”): the original meaning would have been “changing (status, via marriage)” > “young woman about to get married” > “unmarried young woman; daughter.”[1]

• IPA^(key): [mɛ̂jta]

meita f (4th declension)

1. daughter (a female child, with respect to her parents)

   māte un meita ― mother and daughter

   vecākā, jaunākā meita ― the oldest, the youngest daughter

   vienīgā meita ― the only daughter

   māsas meita ― sister's daughter (= niece)

   mātei bija divi dēli un trīs meitas ― the mother had two sons and three daughters

   onkulim ir meita, agronome Kurzemē ― uncle has a daughter, an agronomist in Courland

2. (usually meitene) young, unmarried woman

   meitas dienas ― young woman's days (i.e., before marriage)

   meitas uzvārds ― maiden (lit. young woman's) name

   meža meitas ― forest girls (= mythological beings)

   meitu mednieks ― young woman hunter (a man who uses every chance to start a love affair)

   jā, viņa, mana māte, bijusi daiļa meita, un daudzi jaunekļi viņu kārojuši sev par sievu ― yes, she, my mother, was a beautiful young woman, and many young men wanted her as their wife

   “parunā gan, meit”, Pakalns dzīvi atsaucās; “tev viņi vairāk klausīs” ― “talk now, girl,” Pakalns answered lively; “they will hear you further”

3. female servant, usually unmarried

   muižas meita ― mannor servant

   vasaras meita ― summer girl (= hired for the summer)

   istabas meita ― room maid

   saimniece pie tā paša brauciena gribēja apraudzīties un apklausīties pēc jaunas meitas ― the lady wanted, in the same trip, to come see and hear the new servants

4. (poetic) daughter (a member of a people, ethnic group, etc.)

   dažādu tautu dēli un meitas ― the sons and daughters of various nations

• (of "girl"): meitenīte
• (of "young, unmarried woman"): meita, meitene, skuķis, skuķe
• (of "female servant"): kalpone

• (of "daughter"): dēls
• (of "girl"): zēns, zeņķis, puika, puisis, puisēns, puisītis
• (of "female servant"): puisis, kalps

• ielasmeita
• meitene, meitenīte

meita

1. abessive of mö