sirpis

Latvian

Sirpis (1)

Mēness sirpis (2)

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *serp-, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *sírpas,, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“crooked tree, hook, sickle”) with an extra suffix p.

Cognates:

Cognates include Proto-Slavic *sьrpъ (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian серп (serp), Bulgarian сърп (sǎrp), Czech srp, Serbo-Croatian срп, Polish sierp, Upper Sorbian serp, Sanskrit सृणि (sṛṇi), Ancient Greek ἅρπη (hárpē), Latin sarpō (“to cut vines”), Hittite 𒊬𒉺 (šarpa-, “farming tool”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sìɾpis]

Noun

sirpis m (2nd declension)

1. sickle (hand tool with a semicircular blade used for cutting grass, cereals, etc.)

   sirpis un āmurs ― hammer and sickle (Communist symbol)

   no rīta noskrien septiņas verstis līdz kunga druvai, ar sirpi nopļauj pūrvietu rudzu ― in the morning she ran seven leagues to get to (her) lord's corn fields, (and) with a sickle she mowed the rye

2. crescent (an object or arrangement, especially the moon, in the form of a sickle, with tapering extremities), a moonsickle

   mēness sirpis ― moon crescent (lit. moon’s sickle)

   katrā mēnesī ir tikai viena pati reize, kad vakarstundā rietumu debesīs parādās jaunā mēness tievais un smailais sirpis ― every month there is only one time when, at night, in the western sky, the thin, pointed crescent (sickle) of the new moon appears

Declension

Declension of sirpis (2nd declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	sirpis	sirpji
accusative (akuzatīvs)	sirpi	sirpjus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	sirpja	sirpju
dative (datīvs)	sirpim	sirpjiem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	sirpi	sirpjiem
locative (lokatīvs)	sirpī	sirpjos
vocative (vokatīvs)	sirpi	sirpji

See also

• pļaut
• izkapts