ști

Forms

ști (third-person singular present știe, past participle știut), fourth conjugation.^[1] Regional forms include ștu for știu in negative sentences, the subjunctive să știbă and the old gerund știund.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sciō (“to know”).^[3][2][4][1] It survives in all four branches: Aromanian știu, Megleno-Romanian știu and Istro-Romanian știwu.^[3][5] Among the other Romance languages only Sardinian kept the verb, as Sardinian ischire, while Old French and Old Occitan have only a fossil in phrases such as Old French escient “knowingly”.^[4][3][1]

Ciorănescu notes that ⟨nu știu⟩ “I don't know” is usually shortened to ⟨nuș’⟩ in Muntenia.^[3] From ⟨nuș’ ce⟩ “I don't know what” comes niște “some”.^[3][6] neștine “someone” and niscai “some” belong here too, and Ciorănescu allows that some of them may continue Latin nesciō (“I don't know”) phrases directly, but finds that unnecessary.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the oldest texts: MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, and Tiktin's first dated record is Neacșu's letter of 1521.^[2][7] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of Mardarie (1649) gives it for Slavonic вѣдѣти “to know”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is to have knowledge of a fact; from it come “to learn, hear of”, “to know (a person)”, “to heed, fear” and “to care about”.^[9] A second group of senses is knowledge as a skill: “to know (a subject, a language)”, “to know how to, be able to”, “to remember” and “to understand”.^[9] A ști carte is “to be able to read and write”, and a ști pe de rost “to know by heart”.^[9]

Many phrases are built on it: se știe “as is known”, după câte știu “as far as I know”, Dumnezeu știe “God knows”.^[7][9] Ciorănescu lists its derivatives: știre “knowledge; news”, știut “known”, știutor “knowing”, atotștiutor “all-knowing” and neștire “unconsciousness”.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.^[7]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know, be aware of, be informed about: Știu că vine. “I know he is coming.”^[9][1]
2. To learn of, hear about.^[9]
3. To know (a person); reflexive, to know oneself, to know each other.^[9]
4. To heed, take into account; to fear or respect someone.^[9]
5. To care about, look after.^[9]
6. To know (a subject, a skill, a language): știe trei limbi “she knows three languages”, and a ști carte “to be literate”.^[9]
7. To be able to, know how to: Nu știe să înoate. “He can't swim.”^[9]
8. To remember.^[9]
9. To realise, understand.^[9]

Word family

• știre
• știut
• neștiut
• știutor
• neștiutor
• atotștiutor
• neștire

Related words

• Aromanian știu
• Latin sciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1128
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ști
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7722
5. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 286
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5899
7. ^ 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. ști
8. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. ști
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1094