saimniece

See also: saimniecē

Latvian

Etymology

From saime (“family, household”) +‎ -niece, or saimnieks (“farmer, owner”) +‎ -e (“fem.”) (the latter with palatalization of k to c).

Noun

saimniece f (5th declension, masculine form: saimnieks)

1. (female) farmer, landowner; farmer's or landowner's wife; mistress, lady (woman who organizes, manages, oversees work (usually by women) in a farm)

   rītos saimniecei bij jāceļ meitas, lai iet lopus barot un govis slaukt ― in the morning the lady had to wake up the girls (= workers), so that they would go feed the animals and milk the cows

   “es gribu, lai tu manās mājās būtu saimniece”, vīrietis teica... “mums būs jāstrādā, būs jāar zeme un rudeņos janovāc raža, bet pēc tā visa mēs varēsim sēdēt pagalmā un raudzīties uz bērniem” — “I want you to be the lady in my house,” the man said... “we will have to work, to plow the land and to harvest in autumn, but after all that we will be able to sit in the yard and watch the children”

2. (female) owner or tenant, especially of a small business; wife of the owner of a business; hostess

   viesnīcas saimniece ― hotel owner (or his wife)

   skolas ēdnīcas saimniece ― the hostess of the school canteen

   pansijas saimniece ― pension / boarding house owner, hostess

3. landlady, (female) owner, manager of a place, house, apartment, etc.; the landlord's wife)

   dzīvokļa saimniece ― apartment owner, landlady

   mazā dzīvokļa saimniece sākumā nepazina viešņu ― the small apartment's owner, landlady at first did not recognize the visitor

4. (female) owner, mistress, boss (woman who has the right to use a certain space, room, place, etc.)

   kabineta saimniece ― the owner, mistress of the office

5. owner, mistress (of a pet)

   suns iztālēm pazīst savu saimnieci ― the dog knows his owner, mistress from afar

6. (female) owner (of an object)

   mēteļa saimniece ― the (female) owner of the coat

7. housekeeper, housewife; lady of the house; hostess (of guests

   taupīga, skopa saimniece ― economical, stringy housekeeper

   saimniecēm noteikti patiks arī sešu dažādu izmēru alumīnija katliņi ― the housewives will be especially pleased by the aluminum pots of six different sizes

8. mistress, manager, boss, chief (woman who runs (an organization or company, an event, etc.)

   izpildkomitejas priekšsēdētāja, nu jau vairāk nekā pusotra gadu desmita būdama pilsētas saimniece, ļoti labi zina to, kas ceļams, remontējams ― the (female) president of the executive committee, having been already more than a decade and a half the city manager, knew very well what could be built, what could be repaired

Declension

Declension of saimniece (5th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	saimniece	saimnieces
accusative (akuzatīvs)	saimnieci	saimnieces
genitive (ģenitīvs)	saimnieces	saimnieču
dative (datīvs)	saimniecei	saimniecēm
instrumental (instrumentālis)	saimnieci	saimniecēm
locative (lokatīvs)	saimniecē	saimniecēs
vocative (vokatīvs)	saimniece	saimnieces

Synonyms

• (of "housekeeper", "hostess"): mājasmāte, namamāte