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Webster 1828 Edition

Maja

MA'JA

,
Noun.
A bird of Cuba, of a beautiful yellow color, whose flesh is accounted a delicacy.

Definition 2024

māja

māja

See also: maja, Maja, majá, mājā, and mają

Latvian

Māja

Noun

māja f (4th declension)

  1. house, dwelling
    dzīvojamā māja‎ ― residential house
    stūra māja‎ ― corner house
    ģimenes māja‎ ― family house
    kalpu māja‎ ― servants' house, farm workers' house
    vienstāva, daudzstāvu māja‎ ― one-storey, multi-storey house
  2. (chiefly in the plural) farmhouse, farmstead, farm and its buildings
    lauku mājas‎ ― farmhouse, farmstead
    iepirkt mājas‎ ― to buy a farm
    dzīt govis mājās‎ ― to drive the cows to the farm
  3. (chiefly in the plural) house, home
    braukt, iet uz mājām‎ ― to drive, to go home
    uzkopt māju‎ ― to tidy up the house
    mājas māte, mājasmāte‎ ― the lady (lit. mother) of the house
    otrās mājas‎ ― a second home
    sēdēt mājas‎ ― to sit home
    justies kā mājas‎ ― to feel at home

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “māja”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7

Etymology

Traditionally considered a borrowing from Proto-Finnic *maa ‎(“land, earth”) (compare Finnish, Estonian maa, Veps ma, Livonian mō); the meaning evolved from “earth, land” → “earth, fields close to a village, to (farm) houses” → “(farm) house.” This word was also re-borrowed into Proto-Finnic as *maja (compare Estonian maja ‎(“house”), Finnish maja ‎(“hut”), Livonian mōi ‎(“home”). More recently, it has been suggested that Proto-Finnic *maa ultimately derives from Indo-European, cf. Sanskrit मही ‎(mahī), Old Irish mag ‎(“plains, field”) (from Proto-Indo-European *meǵ(ʰ)-, *mag(ʰ)-, whence also Ancient Greek μέγας ‎(mégas, “big”)). In this case, Latvian māja might not be a borrowing, but a retention from Proto-Indo-European.[1](Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [māːja]

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