English

Noun

govs

1. plural of gov

Latvian

Govs

Etymology

From earlier Latvian *gùovis, from Eastern Proto-Baltic *guowis (an i-stem), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws ‎(“cattle”). Cognates include Hittite guwau- ‎(guwau-), Old Armenian կով ‎(kov), Proto-Slavic *govędo ‎(“cattle”) (Russian говядина ‎(govjádina, “beef”), dialectal говядо ‎(govjádo, “cattle, beef, butter”), Belarusian гавяда ‎(gavjáda, “domestic animal”), Bulgarian говедо ‎(govedo, “cow, cattle”), Czech hovado ‎(“cow, cattle”)), Old High German chuo (German Kuh, Dutch koe, English cow, Swedish ko, Icelandic kýr), Proto-Celtic *bow- (Old Irish bó, Irish bó, Scottish Gaelic bò, Middle Welsh bu) Latin bōs, bōvis ‎(“ox, cattle”), dialectal vos (Italian bove, bue, French bœuf, Romanian bou, Spanish buey, Portuguese boi).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡùows]

Noun

govs f (6th declension)

1. cattle (bovines in general, syn. liellops)

   govju ferma‎ ― cow farm, cattle ranch

   govju ēdināšana‎ ― the feeding of the cattle

2. cow (specifically female)

   piena govs‎ ― milk cow, dairy cow

   slaukt govis‎ ― to milk the cows

   govs stāv ciet, ir ciet‎ ― the cow stands, is closed (= does not give milk, before calving)

Declension

See also

• liellops
• bullis
• vērsis
• teļš, tele, telēns

References

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