Wordy Wednesday: Mmmm!

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Lately, my husband has really gotten into baking. He loves it! So in honor of all the wonderful bread he's been providing us, today's Wordy Wednesday is all about baking.

  • maize : bread [slider title="decline me"] maize , f., 5. dekl.
    vsk.: maize, maizes, maizei, maizi, ar maizi, maizē
    dsk.: maizes, maižu, maizēm, maizes, ar maizēm, maizēs [/slider]

The most important facet of Latvian cuisine - bread. A Latvian dark rye bread is 100% rye flour with yeast and water plus maybe some salt, honey or caraway. There is no wheat. It's dense, chewy, intense and filling. But, since this isn't my food blog, I'll stop there. :)

  • maiznīca : bakery [slider title="decline me"] maiznīca , f., 4. dekl.
    vsk.: maiznīca, maiznīcas, maiznīcai, maiznīcu, ar maiznīcu, maiznīcā
    dsk.: maiznīcas, maiznīcu, maiznīcām, maiznīcas, ar maiznīcām, maiznīcās[/slider]

-Nīca is basically a suffix that means "thing-place". So a maiznīca is a "bread-place" - a bakery.

  • maiznieks : a baker (masc.) [slider title="decline me"] maiznieks , m., 1. dekl.
    vsk.: maiznieks, maiznieka, maizniekam, maiznieku, ar maiznieku, maizniekā
    dsk.: maiznieki, maiznieku, maizniekiem, maizniekus, ar maizniekiem, maizniekos[/slider]
    maizniece : a baker (fem.) [slider title="decline me"] maizniece , f.,
  • dekl.
    vsk.: maizniece, maiznieces, maizniecei, maiznieci, ar maiznieci, maizniecē
    dsk.: maizneices, maiznieču, maizniecēm, maiznieces, ar maizniecēm, maizniecēs[/slider]

Like -nīca, -nieks and -niece are common suffixes that indicates a person of either male or female gender respectively. So, we combine bread + appropriate person suffix = baker.

  • mīcīt : to knead [slider title="conjugate me"] mīcīt , 3. konj.
    tag. mīcu, mīci, mīca, mīcam, mīcat
    pag. mīcīju, mīcīji, mīcīja, mīcījām, mīcījāt
    nak. mīcīšu, mīcīsi, mīcīs, mīcīsim, mīcīsiet / mīcīsit
    pav. mīci, mīciet [/slider]

  • mīkla : 1. dough; 2. riddle [slider title="decline me"] mīkla , f., 4. dekl.
    vsk.: mīkla, mīklas, mīklai, mīklu, ar mīklu, mīklā
    dsk.: mīklas, mīklu, mīklām, mīklas, ar mīklām, mīklās [/slider]

Like tautasdziesmas , riddles are part of Latvia's cultural heritage and are still alive and well today. There's even a radio show where a family guesses answers to listener-submitted riddles and sing! You can listen to "Greizie rati" on LR-1 at 10:25 EET on Saturdays, rebroadcast on Sundays at 04:02.(Listen to it via live streaming or find it in the archives.)

  • milti : flour [slider title="decline me"] milti , m., 1. dekl.
    vsk.: milts, milta, miltam, miltu, ar miltu, miltā
    dsk.: milti, miltu, miltiem, miltus, ar miltiem, miltos[/slider]

This is one of Latvian's "uncountable" nouns. It is possible to decline it for singular, but in practice it is not really used. In English, we would have to say "a grain of flour" as flour is considered to be made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny grains.