apos

Forms

apos m or n (feminine singular apoasă, masculine plural apoși, feminine/neuter plural apoase)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aquōsus (“watery, abounding in water”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Academy dictionary also compares French aqueux.^[6] MDA2 allows a Romanian formation as well, from Romanian apă + -os, and Tiktin derives it from apă alone.^[7][8] The Latin adjective is formed on aqua (“water”).^[1]

DELR records the word in Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian too.^[2] Its Romance cognates include Italian acquoso, Old French eveux and Occitan aigos.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei (1673), where the feminine is used as a noun for “the sea”: „Apoasa o trecu-n vad ca pe uscat” “he crossed the sea at a ford as on dry land”.^[2][8][6]

Semantic evolution

The noun sense “sea” stayed with Dosoftei; the adjective means rich in water or containing too much of it, and like water.^[2][4] Hasdeu noted that it was less used than its synonym apătos.^[9] The Academy dictionary quotes it of unripe, watery fruit, of thin milk and of a river swollen by rain.^[6] Anatomy uses umoare apoasă “aqueous humour”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1673 – apoasa “the sea” in Dosoftei.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. watery: containing (too much) water, rich in water.^[4][1]
2. Like water, aqueous;^[4] umoare apoasă “aqueous humour”, the clear liquid between the cornea and the lens of the eye.^[4]
3. (obsolete, feminine as a noun) the sea.^[7][2]

Related words

• apă
• apătos
• Latin aqua

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. apă
3. ^ a b 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. apos
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 55
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 588
6. ^ a b c 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. apos
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, 81
8. ^ 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. apos
9. ^ Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. apos