trist

Forms

trist (feminine trista, masculine plural trists or tristos, feminine plural tristes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan trist, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin trīstus, a variant of Latin trīstis (“sad, gloomy; stern”).^[2][3][4][1] The DCVB derives it directly from the classical form.^[5]

The variant with the endings -us, -a, -um is found in old inscriptions and is condemned by the Appendix Probi; most Romance forms come from it, among them Occitan trist, Italian tristo and Romanian trist.^[2][6] Spanish triste continues the classical form.^[6] Old French trist was replaced by French triste, a learned remake on the Latin.^[7]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unknown; it has been compared with Proto-West Germanic *þrīstī (“bold”) and Ancient Greek δριμύς (drimús, “sharp, bitter”), and de Vaan finds the Germanic comparison hard to reconcile with Latin sound laws.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DECat's first records are of the end of the 13th century, in Llull and Cerverí de Girona.^[2] In Llull's Blanquerna a soul says trista és ma ànima “my soul is sad”; in Cerverí the Latin shade “stern” is still felt, in cara trist' ab iratz oylls “a stern face with angry eyes”.^[2] CICA's first text is the Catalan Diàlegs of St Gregory, of the second half of the 13th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Faraudo's medieval quotations show both “grieving, afflicted” and “poor, wretched, worthless”: an inventory of King Martin lists a cape that is dolent, trist e de poque valor.^[10] The DCVB adds “insufficient, ineffective” and the use before a noun for a single, mere thing.^[5] The dictionary of Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà (1803–1805) and Labèrnia apply the word to dark, inferior bread, pa trist.^[11][12] The DCVB and the DEIEC also give trist as the name of a small bird of reed beds.^[5][13]

Of the derivatives, entristir and tristor are in Llull, contristar, from Latin, about 1400, and tristesa is recorded in 1653.^[3]

Timeline

• late 13th century – Cerverí de Girona and Llull.^[2]
• 13th century, second half – the Catalan Diàlegs of St Gregory.^[9]
• 1380 – Antoni Genebreda's translation of Boethius.^[10]
• 1381 – the Cercapou bids the reader to comfort los trists o tribulats.^[10]
• 1460 – in the Tirant the Princess leaves the hall ab la cara... molt trista.^[10]
• 1653 – first record of tristesa.^[3]
• 1803 – Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà record pa trist.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sad, unhappy: without joy: Des que se'n va anar el seu germà està molt trist.^[4][5][1]
2. That shows or causes sadness; gloomy, dismal: una tarda trista.^[4]
3. Poor, wretched, pitiful.^[5][10]
4. Insufficient, meagre; before a noun, a mere, a single: no tenia ni un trist cèntim.^[5][14]

Noun

1. (zoology) A small bird of reed beds and rushes: the DEIEC identifies it as the zitting cisticola (Cisticola juncidis), the DCVB as the aquatic warbler.^[13][5]

Word family

• entristir
• entristiment
• desentristir
• tristament
• tristesa
• tristor

Related words

• contristar
• Latin tristis
• Spanish triste
• Occitan trist

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 847
3. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 927
4. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. trist
5. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. trist
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 643
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. triste
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. trist
10. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. trist
11. ^ a b Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. trist
12. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. trist
13. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. trist
14. ^ Viccionari (Catalan Wiktionary), https://ca.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. trist