daiļš

• (dialectal form) dails

From an old (unattested) adjective *dailus, which yielded two parallel forms, a yo-stem adjective (> standard daiļš) and an o-stem adjective (> dialectal dails), from Proto-Baltic *day- with an extra suffix -l, from the o-grade form of Proto-Indo-European *dey-, *doy- (“to shine brightly, to glitter, to sparkle”). There was some influence in the meaning of this word from a homophonous Proto-Indo-European stem *dey- (“to swing, to sway, to swirl; to rush”), from which the uses of daiļš to mean “quick, industrious, diligent, skilled” (mostly in folk songs or tales). Cognates include Lithuanian dailùs (“pretty, beautiful, lovely, tasteful”), Sanskrit दीद्यति (didyati, “to shine, to glitter, to sparkle”), Ancient Greek δέατο (déato, “was visible, appeared, seemed”), Irish river name Daol, from *doylā (“shining, bright”).[1]

• IPA^(key): [dāīʎʃ]

daiļš (definite daiļais, comparative daiļāks, superlative visdaiļākais, adverb daiļi)

1. very beautiful, lovely, exquisite (corresponding to high aesthetic ideals, causng aesthetic pleasure)

   daiļš augums ― beautiful stature, body

   daiļa seja ― lovely, beautiful face

   daiļas rokas ― lovely, beautiful hands

   daiļš zieds ― beautiful, exquisite flower

   daiļais dzimums ― the beautiful, fair sex (i.e., women)

   viss daiļais cilvēka dzīvē ― all (that is) beautiful in human life

   visdaiļāko festivāla meiteni ievēlēs par festivāla skaistuma karalieni ― the most beautiful girl in the festival was chosen as the festival's beauty queen

2. beautiful, sublime, with profound meaning

   daiļa dvēsele ― beautiful soul

   veidot dzīvi saskanīgu un daiļu ― to make (one's) life harmonious and beautiful

3. (rare, folkloric) industrious, virtuous, good

   daiļa, daiļa tā meitiņa, kas darbiņu čakli veic ― good, good is the girl who does her work diligently

• glīts
• grezns
• krāšņs
• skaists
• (colloquial) smuks

• neglīts

• daiļlēkšana
• daiļliteratūra
• daiļums
• (dated term) daiļava
• (poetic term) daile