întâi

Forms

întâi m or n (feminine singular întâie or întâi, plural întâi)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] The usual explanation is inherited from Vulgar Latin *antaneus, a metathesis of *anteanus (“former, prior”), from Latin ante (“before”); this is the etymon of DEX, MDA2 and Candrea–Densusianu, after Mussafia and Densusianu.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} French ancien goes back to the same Latin form.^[1] The modern form comes from the older întâniu, which was used in 16th-century texts and survives in Banat.^[2][1]

Ciorănescu calls the origin obscure: the first part seems to be the Latin preposition, but the Latin formation is uncertain, as the REW notes.^[2][6] He prefers a popular derivative of anteveniō (“to come before”), of the type *antevenium, which would give the old form.^[2][1] Skok's derivation from a participial phrase with the same preposition seems to him less likely.^[2][1] The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian ntãnj.^[7][8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), which has the inflected feminine întâieei in the heading of Peter's first epistle.^[4][9][10] Tiktin dates it to the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[10] Coresi's psalter of 1570 has it in Psalm 135:10.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word is both a numeral, “first” in a series of place, time or rank, and an adverb, “at first, first of all”.^[3][2] As an adverb it does not change; before a noun the numeral takes the articled forms întâiul and întâia.^[2] Old texts also used it as a noun, “a leader” and in the plural “people of old”, and Ureche used it for “beginning”.^[1][5]

Romanian derived dintâi “first, of before”, întâiași in întâiași dată “the first time”, modelled on aceeași, întâietate “priority” and the old întâietor “preceding, pre-eminent”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – întâieei in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[4][9]
• 1570 – in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[10]
• 1742 – Dumineca întâi a sfântului post “the first Sunday of Lent” in a book of homilies.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At first, in the beginning; with mai: formerly.^[3][1]
2. First of all, before anything else: Întâi mâncăm, apoi plecăm. “First we eat, then we leave.”^[3][1]
3. For the first time.^[3]

Numeral

1. first, at the head of a series in place, time or quality; before a noun in the articled forms întâiul, întâia: clasa întâi “first class”.^[3][2][1]
2. (archaic) As a noun: a leader; in the plural, the people of old.^[1]

Word family

• dintâi
• întâietate

Related words

• înainte
• Aromanian ntãnj

Usage notes

(Pentru) întâia dată or oară means “for the first time”, and mai întâi și-ntâi “first and foremost”.^[3] Întâiul născut is the eldest son.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. întîi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 555
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1251
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 885
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 493
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 757
8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 129
9. ^ a b 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. întâiu
10. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. întâi
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 135:10