Etymology

A neologism, created from zinātne ‎(“science”) +‎ -ība in the second half of the 18th century by J. Alunāns, later (1878) officially changed to zinība by a commission of the Riga Latvian society, and finally replaced by A. Kronvalds coinage zinātne, which became the standard form in the beginning of the 20th century.^[1]