Latvian

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Adjective

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smagus

  1. accusative plural masculine of smags

Lithuanian

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Proto-Baltic *smag-, and cognate with Latvian smags (heavy). The further interpretation of the root and its deduced extra-Baltic cognates is unclear.

Traditionally held to be related to Ancient Greek μογέω (mogéō, to toil, suffer); Windekens also adduces Tocharian B māsk- (to be difficult) as a cognate.[1] This derivation appears to be favored by Matasovic.

However, Fraenkel rejects the above hypothesis, and prefers to derive the word from smõgti (to strongly hit, strike), citing the collocation árklį smagiaĩ smõgti (to give the horse a strong blow) as evidence for a connection.[2] This derivation is favored by Smoczynski.[3]

Adjective

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smagùs m (feminine smagì, neuter smagù) stress pattern 4

  1. (archaic or dialectal) heavy
Declension
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Etymology 2

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The connection to Etymology 1 is unclear. Jegers and Smoczynski consider the "pleasant" sense a semantic extension of the "heavy" sense, via "heavy, strong" > "efficient" > "pleasant".[2][3] However, Fraenkel is skeptical of this derivation, and separates the two, taking the "pleasant" sense implicitly to be from Proto-Indo-European *smeg- (nice taste) and comparing Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (taste, savor) as cognate.[4]

Adjective

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smagùs m (feminine smagì, neuter smagù) stress pattern 4

  1. pleasant
Declension
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References

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  1. ^ smagus”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fraenkel, Ernst (1955, 1962–1965) “smagùs 1.”, in Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume II, Heidelberg-Göttingen: Carl Winter and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 837
  3. 3.0 3.1 Smoczyński, Wojciech (2007) “smõgti”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka litewskiego[1] (in Polish), Vilnius: Uniwersytet Wileński, page 579
  4. ^ Fraenkel, Ernst (1955, 1962–1965) “smagùs 2.”, in Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume II, Heidelberg-Göttingen: Carl Winter and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 838

Further reading

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  • smagus”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2024
  • smagus”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2024
  • smagùs” in Hock et al., Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 2.0 (online, 2020–).