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by tetromino_ 3397 days ago
> Latvian for "independence" is "neatkarība" which itself is wrong pair, because "independence" means not being dependent, and therefore free, while Latvian word means more like "impossibility to take by force".

Interesting, the Latvian word feels like a cognate of Russian непокорённость (nepokoryonnost'), which means something like "ability to resist conquest". I wonder if kor/kar is the same Balto-Slavic root, or is this a false cognate?
2 comments
tikums 3397 days ago
Calque of German abhängig ‎(“dependent”), coined at the end of the 19th century from atkār(t) ‎(“to hang down”) +‎ -īgs (with atkārt from at- +‎ kārt ‎(“to hang”)), together with the related term atkarība.

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atkar%C4%ABgs

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ommunist 3397 days ago
More like "непокоряемость", but modern Latvians like @tikums forgot it.
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tikums 3397 days ago
The word for independence ("neatkarība") in Latvian is a calque from the German Abhängigkeit ‎("dependence")[1]. Thus, "atkarāties" and "karāties" ("to hang"). Thus, the English expression "it hangs in the balance". On balance, most of the things you've said about the Latvian language in this thread hang by a thread, and that thread is close to tear.

Please check your sources and brush up on whatever rudimentary Latvian skills you still posses. You will certainly not master the language by defaulting to what is, in essence, chauvinism. Rest assured, we can read between the lines of what you're implying ["Russian language superior! We have big words, words for everything! The best words!], but it's just not gonna fly here.

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atkar%C4%ABba

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