asmuți

Forms

asmuți (third-person singular present asmute, past participle asmuțit, third-person subjunctive asmută) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain: DEX calls it of unknown origin, and DELR thinks it most probably inherited, though disputed, and certainly from the same base as sumuța and muța.^[2][3] The sources name three Latin bases.^[3]

The first, Pușcariu's, followed by the DA and Ciorănescu, makes it inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmucciō, from a *muccius “snout”, itself from muccus (“snot”).^[3][4] The first sense would have been “to purse the lips to whistle”, hence “to set the dogs on by whistling”.^[3] Ciorănescu compares Aromanian muțare (“to suck”), and DELR the Aromanian noun muț “snout”.^[4][3] The variant amuța would then be from *ammucciō.^[3][4]

The second, held by Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu and CADE, starts from that variant and *ammōtiō (“to set in motion”), from mōtus (“movement”), the participle of moveō (“to move”);^[3] DELR compares French meute (“pack of hounds”).^[3] The initial ⟨as-⟩ would then come from crossing with the verb from *submōtiō, or from a prefix ⟨a-⟩ added to that verb.^[3] The third, in the Lexicon de la Buda, Hasdeu and Șăineanu, uses muttiō (“to mutter”), with prefixes and a change of conjugation.^[3]

The French dialect word amoisser that Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu cited does not match the Romanian forms in sound.^[3] Cihac's Old Church Slavonic съмѫтити (sŭmǫtiti, “to stir up, disturb”) is impossible on phonetic grounds, according to DELR.^[3] Byhan took it from Ukrainian; Șăineanu called it obscure.^[4] The fourth-conjugation form is, for Ciorănescu and Wiktionary, a later change of conjugation from the first-conjugation variant.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the variant amuța in the Pravila of Moldavia of 1646;^[3][5] Tiktin dates asmuți itself to the same text.^[3][5] DELR dates the form asmuți to Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705).^[3] MDA2 cites Odobescu in 1887.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is urging a dog with shouts to chase or attack.^[2][3] A folk verse has „M-amuțai, mândro, cu cânii” “you set the dogs on me, sweetheart”.^[5] From dogs it passed to people, “to incite someone to violent or hostile acts”, and to thoughts and feelings: Delavrancea's Sultănica „își azmuțea gândul” “drove her thoughts on”.^[2][5] DELR records the derivatives amuțătură (1705), asmuțitor (1857) and asmuțeală (1862).^[3]

Timeline

• 1646 – amuța in the Pravila of Moldavia, the first record.^[3][5]
• 1705 – asmuți and amuțătură in Cantemir.^[3]
• 1825 – muța in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[3]
• 1857 – asmuțitor “inciting”.^[3]
• 1862 – asmuțeală.^[3]
• 1887 – in Odobescu.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To urge a dog with shouts to chase or attack, to sic.^[2][6][1]
2. (figurative) To stir up, to incite someone to violent or hostile acts.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) To spur on, to excite.^[6][8]

Word family

• asmuțeală
• asmuțit
• asmuțitor
• asmuțitură
• muța
• sumuța

Usage notes

DEX gives a first-conjugation variant asmuța; other forms are amuța, azmuți and sumuța.^[2][6][4] The present is asmut, also asmuțesc.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 68
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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. asmuți
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. asmuți
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. asmuțí
6. ^ 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, 112
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. asmuți
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 48