līvli

Livonian

Etymology

līv- +‎ -li; according to Kallio (2021), the root līv- (akin also to Estonian liivi, Finnish liivi) was reborrowed from Middle Low German [Term?], which in turn was borrowed from an original Livonian term reflected in Salaca Livonian Līb, exhibiting a regular Low German sound change of intervocalic b > v. The forms with -v- are also the behind the name Leivu (i.e. the Gauja Estonians).[1]

EES, in turn, claims that the Livonian forms with -b- were borrowed from other languages, with lībi deriving from Latvian lībis and lībõ from German. In this case, -v- is original, and EES hypothetically connects this to Proto-Finnic *liiva (sand) or Proto-Finnic *liiva (slime).[2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈliːvli/, [ˈliːvli]

Noun

līvli

  1. a Livonian
    Synonyms: līvõz, rāndali

Declension

Declension of līvli (199)
singular (ikšlu’g) plural (pǟgiņlu’g)
nominative (nominatīv) līvli līvlizt
genitive (genitīv) līvliz līvlizt
partitive (partitīv) līvlizt līvliži
dative (datīv) līvlizõn līvliztõn
instrumental (instrumentāl) līvlizõks līvliztõks
illative (illatīv) līvlizõ līvližiz
inessive (inesīv) līvlizõs līvližis
elative (elatīv) līvlizõst līvližist

References

  1. ^ Kallio, Petri. The position of Leivu (2021). Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 123–143
  2. ^ liivi”, in [ETY] Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat [Estonian Etymological Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2012
  • Tiit-Rein Viitso; Valts Ernštreits (2012–2013), “līvli”, in Līvõkīel-ēstikīel-lețkīel sõnārōntõz [Livonian-Estonian-Latvian Dictionary]‎[1] (in Estonian and Latvian), Tartu, Rīga: Tartu Ülikool, Latviešu valodas aģentūra