abia

Forms

abia^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ad vix (“with difficulty”), made of Latin ad (“to”) and vix (“hardly, with difficulty”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The phrase first gave abi, a form still heard in some dialects, to which the adverbial ending -a was added, as in aci, aiurea and acolo.^[2][3][1] Earlier scholars explained the -a otherwise: Hasdeu by a diphthongisation of the stressed /i/, Candrea and Densusianu by a false division before verbs beginning with ⟨a-⟩;^[2][3] Ciorănescu finds these explanations unnecessary.^[2][3] The variants abea and Banat abe come from the standard form.^[2]

Ciorănescu gives the sister-branch form Aromanian avia, and the Romance parallels are Old Spanish abés and the Sursilvan form of Romansh vess, which continues the simple Latin adverb.^[3][2][1] Cihac derived the word from Old Church Slavonic абиѥ (abije, “at once”);^[3][2] Ciorănescu calls this wrong, and DELR, citing Vaillant, takes the Slavonic word to be a loan from Romanian.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Codex of Bratul (1559–1560), with the forms abiiá and abïe.^[2] Tiktin quotes the Codicele Voronețean on a sea voyage: „și abiia putumu ținrea corabiia” “and we could hardly hold the ship” (Acts 27:16).^[6] MDA2 dates it from Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686).^[7]

Semantic evolution

Like Latin vix, the word has two basic senses: “with difficulty” and “only just, a moment ago”; the temporal one often introduces a clause saying what happened next.^[3][8] Old texts strengthen the first with cu mare nevoie or cu mult greu “with great trouble”, and abia viu meant “half dead”.^[6] Modern Romanian adds the senses “very little, almost not at all” and “at least”.^[5]

Diminutive forms are recorded from the 19th century: abieluța (1838), abielușa (1881) and Banat abiuța (1895), all meaning “just now”.^[2] Transylvanian Saxon borrowed the word.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1559–1560 – the first record, as abiiá and abïe, in the Codex of Bratul.^[2]
• 16th century – abiia in the Codicele Voronețean.^[6]
• 1682–1686 – in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, MDA2's first record.^[7]
• 1838 – the diminutive abieluța “just now”.^[2]
• 1881 – abielușa in Muntenia.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. hardly, with difficulty: Abia am urcat dealul. “I barely made it up the hill.”^[5][1]
2. Very little, almost not at all, scarcely.^[5][1]
3. Just, only just, a moment ago; no sooner than: Abia ajunsese acasă, când a sunat telefonul. “He had only just got home when the phone rang.”^[5][3][1]
4. At least.^[5]

Word family

• abiuța
• de-abia

Related words

• Aromanian avia
• Latin vix

Usage notes

The form de-abia is used with the same senses.^[6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. abia
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. abia
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 224
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 2
6. ^ 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. abia
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 2
8. ^ 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. abia