CilmeFrom Proto-Balto-Slavic *śéiwāˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱéy-wos, from *ḱey- (“be located; camp, settlement; friendly; from the same home”) with a suffix -wā (from the same stem also Latvian saime (“household”)). The semantic change seems to have been “friendly settlement or household member” > “woman”. Cognate with Sanskrit शेव (śéva, “dear, friendly, honored”), Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰-𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰 (heiwa-frauja, “master of the house”), Old High German hiwa (“wife”), hi(w)o (“spouse; servant”), Latin civis (“citizen”) (previously “household member”, “villager”). As Latvian sieva gradually shifted its basic meaning to “wife”, a new term sieviete (“woman”) was coined (in the 19th century).
- declension-4, femininewife (married woman; woman with respect to her husband)
“vīrs un sieva” — husband and wife
“nolūkot sievu” — to look for a wife
“ņemt, apņemt sievu” — to take a wife (= to get married)
- declension-4, femininewoman
“sievu koris” — women's choir
“tirgus sieva” — market woman (who sells at the market)
“istabā ienāca kāda sieva” — some woman came into the room
Formassieva(nominative, singular) · sievas(nominative, plural) · sievas(genitive, singular) · sievu(genitive, plural) · sievai(dative, singular) · sievām(dative, plural) · sievu(accusative, singular) · sievas(accusative, plural) · sievu(instrumental, singular) · sievām(instrumental, plural) · sievā(locative, singular) · sievās(locative, plural) · sieva(singular, vocative) · sievas(plural, vocative)