lapsene

lapsene c

1. definite plural of laps

From an earlier *lapsa +‎ -ene, modified from *vapsa under the influence of lapsa (“fox”), from Proto-Baltic *wapsā-, from Proto-Indo-European *wobʰsā (“wasp”), from a stem *webʰ- with different meanings (perhaps different homophonous stems): “to weave, to braid” (so that the wasps would have originally been seen as “those that weaves (their own nest)“), and also “to scurry, to dart, to teem” (“teeming, darting insects”). Cognates include Lithuanian vapsvà, dialectal vapsà, Old Prussian wobse, Proto-Slavic *vopsā (Russian, Ukrainian оса (osá), Belarusian аса (asá), асва (asvá), Czech vosa, Polish osa), Old High German wefsa, wafsa, German Wespe, Latin vespa (< *vopsa), Ossetian ӕвз- (ævz-), ӕфс (æfs) “bee” (< Proto-Iranian *wabza-, *wapsa-).[1]

• IPA^(key): [lapsɛnɛ]

lapsene f (5th declension)

1. wasp (many species of stinging flying insects resembling bees)

   lapseņu ligzda, pūznis ― wasp nest

   lapsenes kodiens ― wasp bite

   lapsenes dzēlums ― wasp sting

   lapseņu spiets ― wasp swarm

   vientuļās, sabiedriskās lapsenes ― lonely, social wasps

   domas pa galvu kā lapsenes šaudās ― thoughts shoot around like wasps in his head

   lielās, strīpotās lapsenes lidoja sirdīgi ap caurumu ― the large, striped wasps flew angrily around the hole