an

Forms

an m (plural ani or (obsolete) ai)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin annus (“year”), a word inherited by every Romance language.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin word comes from Proto-Italic *atnos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et-no-, probably from *h₂et- (“to go”).^[1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian an, Megleno-Romanian an and Istro-Romanian on.^[3][2][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian anno, Sardinian annu, French an, Catalan any and Spanish año.^[3][9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500.^[2][9] The plural ani occurs there in Psalm 89, and anii in Psalm 30.^[10][11] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), and Tiktin cites the same text at James 4:13, where the sense is the twelve-month year.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its Latin sense.^[2] From it came the measure of age, as in câți ani ai? “how old are you?”, and in the plural a period of life.^[12][13] Old texts dated events în anul Domnului, after Latin anno Domini.^[12] New Year wishes end with la anul și la mulți ani! “next year and for many years!”^[12]

Most later members of the family came from French or Latin.^[2] Anual “annual” is recorded from 1815, anuar “yearbook” from 1836, and aniversar from 1829.^[2] Anotimp “season” (1837) was formed from an and timp after German Jahreszeit.^[2][3] An-lumină “light-year” (1913) follows French année-lumière or German Lichtjahr.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – ani “years” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][10]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][12]
• 1588 – the adverb an “last year”.^[4]
• c. 1650 – anțărț “two years ago”, from Latin annō tertiō.^[2]
• 1815 – anual “annual”.^[2]
• 1836 – anuar “yearbook”.^[2]
• 1837 – anotimp “season”.^[2]
• 1878 – the diminutive anișor.^[2]
• 1913 – an-lumină “light-year”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A year: the time the Earth takes to go round the Sun, twelve months: Anul Nou “New Year's Day”, la anul “next year”, an de an “year after year”.^[13][1]
2. (astronomy) In an-lumină “light-year”, the distance light travels in a year.^[13]
3. A year of study in a school or university: e în anul doi “she is in her second year”.^[13]
4. A measure of age or of how old a thing is: are patruzeci de ani “he is forty”.^[13][12]
5. (plural) A period of someone's life; times: anii războiului “the war years”.^[13]

Word family

• anișor
• aniversare
• an-lumină
• anotimp
• anțărț
• anual
• anuar
• anuitate
• bianual

Related words

• Latin annus

Usage notes

The plural is ani; an older plural ai is common in old texts and survives in dialects, mainly in Moldavia.^[4][12]

A popular adverb an means “last year”, as in an iarnă “last winter”; with mai it means “a few years ago”.^[13][12] It continues the Latin ablative annō, which Plautus and Lucilius already used in the sense “last year”.^[5][14] DELR notes that Italian dialects keep the same use.^[2] MDA2's first record of the adverb is from 1588.^[4]

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 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. an
3. ^ 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. an
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 58
5. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 8
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 487
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 97
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 14
9. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ 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 89:4
11. ^ 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 30:12
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. an
13. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 38
14. ^ 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. an