nejēga
See also: nejēgā
Latvian
Etymology
From ne- + jēga (“meaning, sense, knowledge”). It is a remnant of an earlier sense of jēga, “intelligent person.”[1]
Noun
nejēga m or f (4th declension)
- ignorant, unskilled, stupid person (someone without the necessary knowledge or skills for something)
- nejēga šahā ― a person unskilled in chess
- nejēga lauku darbos ― a person unskilled for farm work
- nejēga muzikā ― a person ignorant of music
- svešais pievienojas viņām un apjautājas par skolu... galīgs nejēga; acīm redzot, nezina, ka mācības tikai šodien pa īstam sākušās ― the stranger joined them and asked about the school... (he was) a fool; apparently unaware that classes really started only today
- gadās dažreiz arī kļūmes... tad meistars baras un sauc mūs par nejēgām ― sometimes failure happens... then the teacher scolds us and calls us stupid
- fool, foolish person (someone whose behavior or actions are nonsensical)
- pilnīgs nejēga ― a complete fool
- šeit dzīvodams, arvien skaidrāk saprotu, cik liels nejēga esmu bijis ― living here, I understand more and more clearly how big a fool I have been
Usage notes
The term nejēga is ambigenous. It is masculine when it refers to males and feminine when it refers to females. It is, however, always declined as a feminine noun, with the exception of its dative singular form, which is nejēgam when it refers to a male and nejēgai when it refers to a female.
Declension
Declension of nejēga (4th declension)
| singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīvs) | nejēga | nejēgas |
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | nejēgu | nejēgas |
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | nejēgas | nejēgu |
| dative (datīvs) | nejēgam, nejēgai | nejēgām |
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | nejēgu | nejēgām |
| locative (lokatīvs) | nejēgā | nejēgās |
| vocative (vokatīvs) | nejēga | nejēgas |
References
- Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “jēga”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
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