nykštys

Lithuanian

Nykštys

Etymology

Cognate with Latvian îkšķis, îkstis (“thumb”), Old Prussian instixs (“thumb”). The form inkštys is attested in the writings of Jonas Bretkūnas, but his mother was a native speaker of Old Prussian, casting doubt on its Lithuanian authenticity.

Etymological details

Possible etymologies for the Baltic term include:

From Proto-Indo-European *enḱ- (“reach, attain, grab, carry”) (Sanskrit अंश (aṃśa, “part”)), Proto-Indo-European *onḱ- (Ancient Greek ὀγκόω (onkóō, “swell”), ὄγκος (ónkos, “bulk, mass”)), as conjectured by Toporov and Hilmarsson. According to Hilmarsson, the PIE reconstruction could be *h₁n̥- h₁n̥ḱ-ti-, and the Proto-Baltic term could be *inn(k)šti- or *nin(k)šti-.
From Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“reach”), according to Derksen. The initial n- must have been lost in Latvian and Old Prussian under this theory.
From Proto-Indo-European *h₂id- (“swell”) (cognate with Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō), Proto-Germanic *aitaz), with secondary -n- and intrusive k . By analogy with the derivation of English thumb from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”), cf. Latin tumēre

Similarities with Lithuanian ìnkstas (“kidney”) and its cognates have been noted, and some have proposed those words either influenced the word for "thumbs" or share an etymology.

Noun

nykštỹs m (plural nykščiaĩ) stress pattern 3

thumb

Declension

Declension of nykštỹs

	singular (vienaskaita)	plural (daugiskaita)
nominative (vardininkas)	nykštỹs	nykščiaĩ
genitive (kilmininkas)	nýkščio	nykščių̃
dative (naudininkas)	nýkščiui	nykščiáms
accusative (galininkas)	nýkštį	nýkščius
instrumental (įnagininkas)	nýkščiu	nykščiaĩs
locative (vietininkas)	nykštyjè	nykščiuosè
vocative (šauksmininkas)	nykštỹ	nykščiaĩ

References

“nykštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2024
“nykštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
“inkštys”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
Derksen, Rick (2015) “nykštys”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 335
Fraenkel, Ernst (1955, 1962–1965) Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume I, Heidelberg-Göttingen: Carl Winter and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 188
Jörundur Hilmarsson (1983) “The words for "thumb" in Baltic”, in Baltistica, volume 19, number 2, →DOI
Derksen, Rick (1996) Metatony In Baltic (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 6), Amsterdam: Rodopi, page 261

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