îngust

Forms

îngust m or n (feminine singular îngustă, masculine plural înguști, feminine/neuter plural înguste)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin angustus (“narrow”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- (“narrow, tight”), through a neuter s-stem noun.^[1]

The adjective survives in Aromanian and Istro-Romanian: Aromanian ngustu and Istro-Romanian ăngust.^[2][8] Byhan found Istro-Romanian gust commoner than ⟨ângust⟩, and took it from Croatian.^[9] Romance has Spanish angosto.^[2][7]

Albanian ngushtë is also a loan from the Latin word.^[10][11] Çabej notes that Buzuku's spelling with ⟨en-⟩ kept a trace of the Latin initial ⟨a-⟩, which brings it close to the Romanian form.^[11]

The verb îngusta “to narrow” is a Romanian derivative for Ciorănescu, while Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW take it straight from Latin angustō.^[2][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1552, at Matthew 7:13, the narrow gate.^[5] MDA2 dates it from Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581, which contrasts the broad way and „calea ceaia îngusta” “the narrow way”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Romanian îngust stands to lat “wide” as strâmt “tight” stands to larg “loose”.^[6] Beside “narrow” it came to mean “thin, slender” and “cramped, limited”.^[4][3] The figurative use for minds and spirits, “narrow-minded, petty”, is modern.^[6][4]

A proverb recorded by Zanne contrasts a wide and a narrow blouse: Iia lată că se gată, iia 'ngustă că mai custă, meaning that thrift makes wealth last.^[6]

Timeline

• 1551–1552 – a Gospel text, Matthew 7:13, the first record.^[5]
• 1581 – calea ceaia îngusta “the narrow way” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[3][6]
• 1659 – calea cea îngustă in a Molitvelnic.^[6]
• 1785 – long and narrow nails “like an eagle's” in the Curioznic.^[6]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with Latin angustus.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. narrow: small in width compared with its length.^[4][3][1]
2. Thin, slender, delicate.^[4][3]
3. Tight, cramped, limited: un coridor îngust “a narrow corridor”.^[4][3]
4. (figurative, of people, often îngust la minte) narrow-minded, limited, mediocre.^[4][14]

Word family

• îngusta
• îngustime

Related words

• Aromanian ngustu
• Albanian ngushtë

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. îngust
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1237
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 549
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îngust
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. îngust
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 471
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 754
9. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 227
10. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (ed.), Digitales philologisch-etymologisches Wörterbuch des Albanischen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
11. ^ a b Çabej, Eqrem (2002), Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes VI (N–Rr), Tiranë, p. 81
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 467
13. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 381
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. îngust