linksmas

Lithuanian

Linksmos merginos - Happy girls

Etymology

Cognate with Latvian līksms (“cheerful”). From Proto-Baltic *linksma-, from Proto-Indo-European *ln̥k-smo-.

Related to Lithuanian linkėti (“wish”), which derives from the same root as Lithuanian linkti (“bow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lenk- (“bend”).[1] Perhaps bowing was a way of expressing one's best wishes,[2] and from that point the evolution of meanings was 'wished' → 'acceptable' → 'pleasant' → 'joyful'.[1]

Adjective

linksmas m (feminine linksma)

  1. joyful; merry

Declension

References

  1. “linksmas”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
  2. Jurij S. Stepanov (1992 January 31) “Lexical entries in major sentence types of Proto-Indo-European”, in Reconstructing Languages and Cultures, →DOI, page 181: “e.g. linké̇ti, linki, 'Somebody bows, expressing his best wishes'”
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