acesta

Forms

acesta m (feminine aceasta, masculine plural aceștia, feminine/neuter plural acestea; genitive-dative acestuia, acesteia, acestora)^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian acest + -a, the form of the demonstrative used as a pronoun and after a noun.^[3][4][1] DELR traces the final ⟨-a⟩ to Latin hāc (“(over) here”) (Drăganu, Rosetti), or to the model of acela (Pușcariu); Hasdeu took it for a deictic particle, probably from the substrate.^[3] DEX and MDA2 derive the pronoun directly from Latin *ecce-istu.^[2][5]

acest goes back to eccum (“here he is”) and iste (“that one”) (Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, Tiktin, the REW), or to ecce (“look!”) with the same pronoun.^[3][4] DELR prefers the first, since adverbs such as acolo and acum can only be explained with it; the initial /a/ may be Romanian or Latin, as in Catalan aquest.^[3] Romance cognates include Italian questo and Old French cest.^[4] The pronoun has counterparts in Megleno-Romanian țista and Istro-Romanian cesta.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520), where the form index has it in Ps 23:5.^[3][6] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun points to someone or something near the speaker, in space or time; placed after a noun it acts as a determiner.^[2] The feminine aceasta also has a neuter sense, “this thing”, in phrases such as după aceasta “after this” and afară de aceasta “besides”.^[4][2] The old language had the shorter cesta, and the emphatic acestași “this same one” is recorded from the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – the first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3][6]
• c. 1563–1583 – acesta and acestași “this same one” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5][3]
• 1570 – acesta in Coresi's Psalter.^[7]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. this one: points to a person or thing relatively near the speaker: Acesta e fratele meu.^[2][5]
2. (feminine aceasta, with neuter value) this thing: pentru aceasta “for this reason”, cu toate acestea “nevertheless”.^[2]

Determiner

1. (placed after the noun) this: omul acesta, cartea aceasta.^[2][5]

Related words

• acest
• acela
• ăsta

Usage notes

Before a noun Romanian uses acest (acest om); colloquial speech prefers ăsta.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 6
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. acest
4. ^ 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. acest
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 7
6. ^ 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 23:5
7. ^ 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 23:6