smagus

smagus

1. accusative plural masculine of smags

• IPA^(key): [smɐˈɡʊs]

From Proto-Baltic *smag-, and cognate with Latvian smags (“heavy”). The further interpretation of the root and its deduced extra-Baltic cognates is unclear.

Traditionally held to be related to Ancient Greek μογέω (mogéō, “to toil, suffer”); Windekens also adduces Tocharian B māsk- (“to be difficult”) as a cognate.^[1] This derivation appears to be favored by Matasovic.

However, Fraenkel rejects the above hypothesis, and prefers to derive the word from smõgti (“to strongly hit, strike”), citing the collocation árklį smagiaĩ smõgti (“to give the horse a strong blow”) as evidence for a connection.^[2] This derivation is favored by Smoczynski.^[3]

smagùs m (feminine smagì, neuter smagù) stress pattern 4

1. (archaic or dialectal) heavy

The connection to Etymology 1 is unclear. Jegers and Smoczynski consider the "pleasant" sense a semantic extension of the "heavy" sense, via "heavy, strong" > "efficient" > "pleasant".^[2][3] However, Fraenkel is skeptical of this derivation, and separates the two, taking the "pleasant" sense implicitly to be from Proto-Indo-European *smeg- (“nice taste”) and comparing Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“taste, savor”) as cognate.^[4]

smagùs m (feminine smagì, neuter smagù) stress pattern 4

1. pleasant

• “smagus”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2024
• “smagus”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2024
• “smagùs” in Hock et al., Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 2.0 (online, 2020–).