băși

Forms

băși (first-person singular present băs or bășesc, third-person singular present bese or bășește, past participle bășit), 4th conjugation^[1][2][3] Moldavia and Transylvania also have beși.^[4][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vissiō (“to break wind softly”), the Late Latin form of vīsiō.^{[4][5][3][6][7][1]} It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian bes and Megleno-Romanian bes.^[5][8][9] Romance cognates are Old French vessir, French vesser, and the nouns Italian vescia and vesse, formed from the verb.^[5][10][7] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW give the same etymology.^[5][11] Tiktin points to a Vulgar Latin verb behind the Romanian one and notes vissium (“fart”) in Du Cange.^[2] The Latin verb may be onomatopoeic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and MDA2 date the first record to the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650.^[4][3] Tiktin's first record is from 1660.^[2] The noun bășină appears earlier, as the personal name Beșină in 1629.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept its single sense, “to break wind”, used both intransitively and reflexively, and is vulgar or popular in register.^[3][2][12] It lives in the proverb capra bese și oaia trage rușinea “the goat breaks wind and the sheep bears the shame”, said when the weak are blamed for what the strong have done;^[2][12][8] Aromanian has the same proverb.^[2][12][8]

Timeline

• 1629 – Beșină, a personal name formed on bășină.^[4]
• c. 1650 – băși and beșinos in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4][3]
• 1660 – the first record Tiktin cites.^[2]
• 1907 – beșul-calului and beșul-porcului, names of the puffball.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and intransitive, vulgar) To break wind, fart.^[3][6][1]

Word family

• beșniță

Related words

• bășină
• bășinos
• beș
• Aromanian bes
• Latin vissiō

Usage notes

Besides the old present băs, bese, the verb has an inchoative present bășesc, bășește, which DEX gives as the standard one.^[5][2][6]

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 Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. băși
3. ^ 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, 186
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. băși
5. ^ 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. băși
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 96
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 204
9. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 75
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 138
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. băși