Wordy Wednesday: Some Fun with Pasaka

Source

I took a bit of a break the past couple of weeks from Wordy Wednesdays so I could focus on some longer, more involved posts. Today, I thought I'd explore pasaka - which, as it turns out, makes new words every time you remove a letter from the start of it. The ending letter, a, isn't really a word (though I guess you could make the case that it can be used as an onomatopoeic exclamation).

  • pasaka : fairy tale [slider title="decline me"] pasaka , f, 4. dekl.
    vsk.: pasaka, pasakas, pasakai, pasaku, ar pasaku, pasakā
    dsk.: pasakas, pasaku, pasakām, pasakas, ar pasakām, pasakās [/slider]

Unlike the way fairy tale is often used in English, pasaka refers to most types of folktales and folk-stories that are fictional. It's not a specific genre or sub-group as you sometimes find in English, where I would never find American Indian folk-stories referred to as "fairy tales", for example. In non-folkloric usage, it generally refers to stories that are similar to traditional folk-stories. Pasakas are not myths, however, as they do not purport to be historical.

  • asaka : fish-bone [slider title="decline me"] asaka , f, 4. dekl.
    vsk.: asaka, asakas, asakai, asaku, ar asaku, asakā
    dsk.: asakas, asaku, asakām, asakas, ar asakām, asakās [/slider]

Don't try to refer to the bones of a fish as kauli. They're asakas. All other types of critters have kauli for bones.

  • saka, from sacīt : he/she tells from to tell, to say [slider title="conjugate me"] sacīt , 3. konj. (mixed)
    tag. saku, saki, saka, sakām, sakāt
    pag. sacīju, sacīji, sacīja, sacījām, sacījāt
    nak. sacīšu, sacīsi, sacīs, sacīsim, sacīsiet / sacīsit
    pav. saki, sakiet [/slider]

This is a synonym for teikt. You'll come across these two verbs a lot in books! Also, pasaka is derived from sacīt. It's sort of a telling, you might say, or even a re-telling, which both make sense for a story.

  • aka : well [slider title="decline me"] aka , f, 4. dekl.
    vsk.: aka, akas, akai, aku, ar aku, akā
    dsk.: akas, aku, akām, akas, ar akām, akās [/slider]

There's not much that I can think of to say about wells. They're important because this is where viensētas would obtain water from if they were not near a stream, spring or other water-source. It's a fun word to say too.

  • ka : that (non-demonstrative)

This is not the same kind of "that" as tas. This is the kind of "that" to pair with tāpēc to make "because of that", saka or teica for "says that", or with tā to make "so that". It's also used by itself to start subordinate clauses such as in this example given in my dictionary: man bija žēl, ka tevis tur nebija - "I was sorry that you weren't there".

  • stāstīt : to tell a story [slider title="conjugate me"] stāstīt , 3. konj. (mixed)
    tag. stāstu, stāsti, stāsta, stāstām, stāstāt
    pag. stāstīju, stāstīji, stāstīja, stāstījām, stāstījāt
    nak. stāstīšu, stāstīsi, stāstīs, stāstīsim, stāstīsiet / stāstīsit
    pav. stāsti, stāstiet [/slider]

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without the relevant verb for telling a story!