spriest

English

Adjective

spriest

superlative form of spry: most spry

Anagrams

spiters, Prestis, sprites, Sprites, stirpes, sitreps, priests, respits, stripes, persist

Latvian

Etymology

This word results from the merging of two stems: (a) Proto-Baltic *spriesti < *spried-ti < Proto-Indo-European *spreyd- (“to press, to squeeze, to block”) (cf. Sudovian cognate saspriziz (“squeeze, crush”)); and (b) Proto-Baltic *sprensti, from *sprend-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *sprend- (“to pull, to stretch, to jump”), from *per-, *sper- (“to pull, to kick, to scatter, to strew, to sputter”) (whence also Latvian spert and sprēgāt, q.v.). The meaning of the (b) forms, perhaps with some influence from the (a) forms, has become dominant, evolving from probably “to pull, to stretch, to drag”, via uses such as sprīdi spriest “to stretch a span”, i.e., “to measure (a span, a gap) by stretching one's fingers”, to “measure” > “evaluate” > “judge”. The (a) form meaning has basically disappeared in standard Latvian, but it can still be found in several dialects, where spriest can still mean “press, squeeze”, and in the standard language in some derived terms (e.g., spriesties, iespriest, saspriest). Cognates of the (b) forms include Lithuanian sprę́sti (“to drive, stick into, to squeeze through, to throw, to stretch; to tighten, to harness; to judge, to decide, to solve”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin (yarn)”), Russian прясть (prjastʹ), Ukrainian пря́сти (prjásty), Bulgarian преда́ (predá, “I spin”), Czech přísti, Polish prząść.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [spɾiɛ̂st]

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Verb

spriest (transitive or intransitive, 1st conjugation, present spriežu, spried, spriež, past spriedu)

to judge (to make or formulate an opinion, a judgment)
spriest patstāvīgi ― to judge independently

spriest pēc nostāstiem ― to judge by witness accounts

spriest pēc ārienes ― to judge by outside appearances

spriest par nākotni ― to judge on, about the future

viņš spriež pareizi ― he judges well, correctly

man par šo jautājumu grūti spriest ― I find it difficult to judge on this question

jā, nakts liekas vēsa... to var spriest pēc zvaigznēm ― yes, the night seemed cool... you could judge that by the stars
(law) to try, to judge (to decide a case in court, to make, to emit a judgment in court)
spriest sodu ― to pronounce (lit. judge) the verdict

spriest tiesu ― to dispense (lit. judge) justice

kā nu tiesa spriedīs, tā būs ― as the court will judge, so it will be (= it will be as the court decides)

krimināllietās tiesu spriež, pamatojoties uz pilsoņu vienlīdzību likuma un tiesas priekšā ― in criminal court, justice is dispensed (lit. judged) on the basis of every citizen's equality before the law and the courts

Conjugation

conjugation of spriest

	INDICATIVE (īstenības izteiksme)				IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme)
		Present (tagadne)	Past (pagātne)	Future (nākotne)	IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme)
1st pers. sg.	es	spriežu	spriedu	spriedīšu	—
2nd pers. sg.	tu	spried	spriedi	spriedīsi	spried
3rd pers. sg.	viņš, viņa	spriež	sprieda	spriedīs	lai spriež
1st pers. pl.	mēs	spriežam	spriedām	spriedīsim	spriedīsim
2nd pers. pl.	jūs	spriežat	spriedāt	spriedīsiet, spriedīsit	spriediet
3rd pers. pl.	viņi, viņas	spriež	sprieda	spriedīs	lai spriež

RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme)			PARTICIPLES (divdabji)
Present	spriežot		Present Active 1 (Adj.)		spriedošs
Past	esot spriedis		Present Active 2 (Adv.)		spriezdams
Future	spriedīšot		Present Active 3 (Adv.)		spriežot
Imperative	lai spriežot		Present Active 4 (Obj.)		spriežam
CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme)			Past Active		spriedis
Present	spriestu		Present Passive		spriežams
Past	būtu spriedis		Past Passive		spriests
DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme)			NOMINAL FORMS
Indicative	(būt) jāspriež		Infinitive (nenoteiksme)		spriest
Conjunctive 1	esot jāspriež		Negative Infinitive		nespriest
Conjunctive 2	jāspriežot		Verbal noun		spriešana

Synonyms

(of "try in court"): tiesāt

Derived terms

prefixed verbs:

other derived terms:

References

^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “spriest^a, spriest^b”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca‎^[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN

[1] Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “spriest^a, spriest^b”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca‎^[1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN

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