amăgi

Forms

amăgi (third-person singular present amăgește, past participle amăgit), fourth conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ammagīre, from Ancient Greek μαγεύω (mageúō, “to practise magic, to bewitch”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Greek verb comes from μάγος (mágos, “Magus, sorcerer”), from Old Persian maguš, at first the name of a people.^[2][1] DELR gives this view after Densusianu, Candrea and Densusianu, the DA and Mihăescu.^[2] The DA notes that the Greek word entered the language before /g/ became /ǧ/ before front vowels, and Candrea and Densusianu take it to be an early loan into the Latin of the Balkans.^[2][5] Ciorănescu also derives it from the Greek verb, probably through a Latin *magīre or *magāre.^[6] The word may instead be formed in Latin on magīa (“magic”) or magus (“sorcerer”).^[2]

Other Romance verbs may be of Latin date too: Sicilian ammagari (“to bewitch”) and Logudorese ammayare.^[2][6] Ciorănescu also compares Catalan amagar and Spanish amagar, which the REW explains as “to threaten”, properly “to bewitch”.^[6][7] Wiktionary considers a link with these unlikely.^[1]

Hasdeu took the word from Byzantine Greek, which would date it later, but DELR notes that the Romanian sounds point to the Latin period.^[2] Cihac derived it from Hungarian ámít (“to deceive”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie of 1582, at Exodus 22:16, in the sense “to seduce, to deceive”.^[2][8] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has it in the story of the Fall: „Șarpele m-au amăgit și am mâncat” “the serpent deceived me and I ate”.^[8] MDA2 dates its first record to before 1594.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The older sense was “to bewitch”, which survives in Varlaam's homilies and is now obsolete.^[6][8][3] From there the word moved to “to deceive, to lure”, and Șăineanu compared the generalisation of the technical sense of farmec “charm, spell”.^[9] The reflexive means “to deceive oneself, to be mistaken”.^[8][4] In Moldavia it can also mean “to tease in jest”.^[3]

Romanian formed a large family from the verb in the old language.^[2] Amăgie “deceit” is recorded from 1620, amăgeu “impostor” from 1643, amăgeală “deceit” from 1654 and amăgelnic “deceitful” from 1698.^[2] DELR takes amăgeu as probably an old loan of a Greek noun, while Candrea and Densusianu derive it from the verb.^[2]

Timeline

• 1582 – the first record, in the Palia de la Orăștie (Exodus 22:16).^[2][8]
• 1620 – amăgie “deceit” in Moxa's chronicle.^[2]
• 1643 – amăgeu “impostor” in Varlaam's homilies.^[2]
• 1654 – amăgeală “deceit”.^[2]
• 1688 – amăgit “deceived” in the Book of Genesis in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1698 – amăgelnic “deceitful” in Cantemir.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To deceive (oneself), to delude.^[4][3][1]
2. (transitive) To tempt or lure, especially with false promises, to seduce.^[4][3]
3. (reflexive) To be mistaken.^[3][10]
4. (obsolete) To bewitch, to cast a spell on.^[3][6]
5. (regional, Moldavia) To tease or fool in jest.^[3]

Word family

• amăgeală
• amăgelnic
• amăgeu
• amăgie
• amăgit
• amăgitură
• autoamăgi
• dezamăgi
• dezamăgitor
• amăgire
• amăgitor

Related words

• mag
• Ancient Greek μαγεύω (mageúō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. amăgi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 49
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 33
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ a b c d e 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. amăgi
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. amăgi
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 20
10. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 24