astăzi

Forms

astăzi^[1] The early 16th-century Psaltirea Hurmuzaki writes astădzi in Psalm 2:7, with the old /dz/ that later became /z/.^[2] Hasdeu notes that the old language could still say the word in three syllables, a-stă-zi, beside the two-syllable a-stăzi.^[3] From the 17th century the final vowel began to fall, giving astăz: Moxa has „jucași bine astăzŭ” “you played well today” (1620).^[3] MDA2 lists astăz and astâzi as variants.^[4]

Etymology

Romanian dictionaries explain it in two ways.^[5][4] In DEX and DLRM it is inherited from Latin istā diē (“on this day”), with a Romanian compound as the alternative.^[5][6] NODEX and Wiktionary also give the Latin phrase.^[7][1] MDA2, Tiktin, Scriban and Șăineanu take it as a compound from Romanian astă + zi, the feminine demonstrative with the noun for “day”.^{[4][8][9][10]} The DA joins the two views: the compound is old, and goes back to a Latin phrase of iste with diēs, which replaced the hodiē that the other Romance languages keep.^[11] The demonstrative ăst continues Vulgar Latin *istus, a by-form of the same Latin demonstrative.^[12]

The shorter azi has a separate history in DER and DELR, which derive it from that Latin adverb or a phrase hāc diē.^[13][14] Tiktin thought the short form was most likely a clipping of the long one.^[8] DELR objects that a form of the same type exists in all three dialects south of the Danube, which is hard to reconcile with a late shortening.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is astădzi in Psalm 2:7 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of the early 16th century: “thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee”.^[2] Tiktin's first record is the same verse in the Psaltirea Scheiană, and MDA2's the Codicele Voronețean; both have the sense “today”.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant “on this day” from the first texts.^[8][4] The Codicele Voronețean already uses it in the wider sense “now, at the present time”: „cum și voi toți seți astădzi” “as you all are today”.^[11] Coresi used a plural noun astăzile “the present days”, which Scriban records as a rarity.^[11][9]

Paired with mâine it means “day after day” when the same words follow, and “now…, now…” when contrasting ones do, as in Tiktin's quotations from Alecsandri and Nădejde.^[8][5] After an imperative it expresses impatience: du-te astăzi! “go, at last!”.^[11][8] DEX also records a noun use, acest astăzi “this day”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – astădzi in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 2:7), the first record.^[2]
• c. 1563-1583 – astădzi “now” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][11]
• 1570 – astăzi in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 94:8).^[15]
• 1580 – Coresi's Omiliar has „dă-mi tu mie astăzi” “give it to me today”.^[3]
• 1620 – the shortened astăzŭ in Moxa's chronicle.^[3]
• 1649 – astăzi glosses Slavonic днес in Mardarie's lexicon.^[16]
• 1688 – about 340 occurrences of astăzi in the Bucharest Bible.^[17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. today: on the day that is now going on; the same as azi.^[5][4][1]
2. (as a masculine noun) The present day: acest astăzi “this today”.^[5]
3. (paired with mâine) Day after day; or now one way, now another.^[5][6]
4. nowadays, at the present time, in our age.^[5][4]

Related words

• azi
• ăst
• zi
• mâine

Usage notes

Astăzi-mâine means “any day now, soon”, and de ieri până astăzi “in a surprisingly short time”.^[5] Ba astăzi, ba mâine describes continual putting off.^[5] The proverb lucrul de astăzi nu-l lăsa pe mâine “don't leave today's work for tomorrow” is in CADE.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 2:7
3. ^ a b c d Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. astăzi
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 114
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 69
6. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 49
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. astăzi
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. astăzi
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 131
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 41
11. ^ a b c d e 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. astăzi
12. ^ 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. ăst
13. ^ 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. azi
14. ^ a b 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. azi
15. ^ 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 94:8
16. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. astăzi
17. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 4:14
18. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. astăzi