Vietovardžiai su sāt- „Latvijos vietovardžių žodyne“ (Latvijas vietvārdu vārdnīca)
Place-names with the Component sāt- in the Dictionary of Latvian Toponyms

Summary/Abstract: The article is looking at some of the Latvian place-names included in the “Dictionary of Latvian Toponyms” (Latvijas vietvārdu vārdnīca), namely those containing the component sāt-. It begins with a brief description of the dictionary and its sources. The now-obsolete dialectal word sāts / sāta / sāte (‘house, home’) and its etymology, semantics and usage in Latvian place-names have been discussed for almost a century. The linguist Jānis Endzelīns proposed a hypothesis that this word might have Finno-Ugric origin, while several other linguists did not agree with this opinion. Since toponyms with the element sāt- are mostly observed in Kurzeme and, more precisely, in the territory formerly inhabited by the Baltic tribe of Curonians, it is believed that this lexeme has Curonian origin. The article proceeds with the analysis of the words containing the element sāt- and included in the volume S1 (which is still in progress) of the “Dictionary of Latvian Toponyms”. Their semantics and area of distribution are shown (illustrated in the map). It is concluded that this particular group of place-names tends to diminish, especially as regards microtoponyms. The dialectal word sāts / sāta / sāte has formerly been more widespread, but the area has shrunk, leaving some traces of the respective word in oikonyms in the western part of the territory.

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