āpsis

See also: apsis and Apsis

Latvian
Āpsis

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic; compare Lithuanian opšrùs, Old Prussian wobsdus. The source may be Proto-Indo-European *op- (“to do, carry out”), from which Latvian regionalism āpēties (“work hard”) (compare Sanskrit अपः (ápaḥ, “work, organizing”), Latin opus (“work, task”)). This name would be justified by the badger's well-made burrows. A parallel case is German Dachs (“badger”) from Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“weave, build”).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [âːpsis]
(file)

Noun

āpsis m (2nd declension)

  1. badger (name of several species of mustelids, especially Meles meles)
    āpša āda ― badger skin
    āpšu alas ― badger burrow
    dzīvot kā āpsim alā ― to live like a badger in his burrow (= without paying attention to the lives of others)

Declension
Declension of āpsis (2nd declension)
singular (vienskaitlis) plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs) āpsis āpši
accusative (akuzatīvs) āpsi āpšus
genitive (ģenitīvs) āpša āpšu
dative (datīvs) āpsim āpšiem
instrumental (instrumentālis) āpsi āpšiem
locative (lokatīvs) āpsī āpšos
vocative (vokatīvs) āpsi āpši

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