veļi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "veli"

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *welias, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- (“tear; pluck; rob; hurt; kill”). Cognates include Lithuanian vẽlės, vė̃lės (singular vėlė̃, velė̃; compare also veliónis (“dead”)), Proto-Germanic *walaz (“dead”) (Old Norse valr (“fallen in the battlefield”), Valhǫll (“abode of fallen warriors”), valkyrja (“Valkyrie”) (i.e., those who led the dead warriors to Odin), Old High German wal (“battlefield”)), Tocharian A wäl (“to die”), walu (“dead one”).[1]

Noun

veļi m (2nd declension)

  1. (mythology, poetic, usually in the plural) soul of the dead; ghost
    veļu valstība, valsts ― the realm of the dead
    veļu kults ― cult of the dead
    veļu laiks ― time of the dead (time in October when the dead return to visit their descendants)
    aiziet veļos ― to go to the dead (i.e., to die)

Usage notes

There is a singular form velis, sporadically attested.

Declension
Declension of veļi (2nd declension)
singular (vienskaitlis) plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs) — veļi
accusative (akuzatīvs) — veļus
genitive (ģenitīvs) — veļu
dative (datīvs) — veļiem
instrumental (instrumentālis) — veļiem
locative (lokatīvs) — veļos
vocative (vokatīvs) — veļi

Derived terms

References
  1. Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “veļi”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
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