beļģis

Borrowed from Latin Belgae (“Belgians”), the name of a group of Gallo-Germanic tribes living in the area of present-day Belgium, apparently from Proto-Celtic *bolg-, *belg- (“to swell (with anger, battle fury)”), i.e., originally this tribal name would have meant “the people who swell with anger or battle fury.”

beļģis m (2nd declension, feminine form: beļģiete)

1. (male) Belgian (i.e., a man born in Belgium)

   ierazdamies izstādē uz visu dienu, beļģi, sevišķi mazturīgākie, ņem ldīzi arī ēdienu ― having come to the exhibition for the whole day, the Belgians, especially the less well-off, take (their own) food along

2. (genitive plural) Belgian; pertaining to Belgium and its people

   beļģu māksla ― Belgian art

   beļģu franki ― Belgian francs (old currency)

The two synonyms beļģis and beļģietis, when referring to an individual from Belgium, appear to be fully interchangeable. In the plural, beļģi is much more frequently used than beļģieši.

• beļģietis

• Beļģija
• beļģisks