sviests

Originally the (adjectival) past passive participle of an old verb *sviest (“to smear, to spread”) (cf. Lithuanian svíesti); the original meaning of sviests was thus “(something) smeared (on something else), (something) used for smearing”; cf. Russian ма́сло (máslo, “butter, oil”) and ма́зать (mázatʹ, “to smear, spread (oil)”), or Latin unguen (“fat, grease”) and unguō (“to smear, to anoint”). The verb *sviest would in turn come from *sviesti, from Proto-Baltic *swied-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *sweyd- (“to shine”) (whence also Latvian svīst (“to sweat; to steam; to dawn”) q.v.); its original meaning would have been “to make something shine” > “to smear with oil, so that it shines” > “to smear” (cf. its descendant svaidīt (“to anoint”), originally the iterative form of *sviest). Cognates include Lithuanian svíestas.^[1]

Alternatively, Pokorny^[2] considers this word and Lithuanian svíesti from Proto-Indo-European *ksweyd- (“milk”) (cf. Middle Indo-Aryan क्ष्विर (kṣvira), Avestan 𐬑𐬱𐬎𐬎𐬍𐬛 (xšuuīd)).

• IPA^(key): [sviɛ̂sts]

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sviests m (1st declension)

1. butter (a dairy product, obtained from cream, with a high fat concentration)

   krējuma sviests ― cream butter

   skābkrējuma sviests ― sour cream butter

   sūkalu sviests ― whey butter

   svaigs sviests ― fresh butter

   nesalīts sviests ― unsalted butter

   kausēts sviests ― melted butter

   sviesta trauks ― butter bowl

   sautēt saknes sviestā ― to sautee roots in butter

   sviesta rūpniecība ― butter industry

   kult sviestu ― to churn butter

   gaiteņa pustumsā viņai skrēja pretī sviestā ceptu pankūku smarža ― in the darkness of the corridor the smell of pancakes fried in butter came (lit. ran) to her

2. (in the genitive, used adjectivally) butter; containing butter, made with butter

   sviesta cepumi ― butter cookies

   sviesta mīklu gatavo no sviesta, cukura, kviešu miltiem, nedaudz pievienojot olas ― butter dough is made from butter, sugar, (and) wheat flour, adding a little egg (= one or two eggs)

3. butter, spread (any food paste generally used as spread)
4. (slang) nonsense; something that is bizarre
5. (slang) something that has poor quality, is not successful

   saiet sviestā ― to deteriorate; to fail (lit. to go into butter)

• sviestmaize

sviests (definite sviestais)

1. thrown, flung, slung; indefinite past passive participle of sviest