spainis

Alternative forms
, ,

Etymology
Borrowed from, likely from the same ultimate source as 🇨🇬, similar to 🇨🇬.

This generated the dialectal form, ; in Kurzeme, also >  (with ģ probably from genitive ); compare 🇨🇬 dialectal forms ,  (possibly borrowings from Kurzeme dialects).

Two explanations have been proposed for the irregular ai (instead of an(n)) in the literary form:


 * influence from dialectal (Kurzeme), a variant of , , at first in Kurzeme, and later on spreading to other dialects; or a contamination between an earlier form and 🇨🇬,
 * or its 🇨🇬 dialectal synonym,.

The borrowing is first mentioned as, in 17th-century dictionaries; by the end of that century, the variant  is also attested. In the first Bible translations one finds. The literary form progressed slowly: in the 19th century, J. Alunāns still used, ; in dictionaries from the 1870s and 1880s,  was only a variant. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did begin to dominate, when,  was perceived (and avoided) as a Germanism.

Noun

 * 1) bucket, pail cylindrical metal, wooden, or plastic container with a handle