băiat

Forms

băiat m (plural băieți)^[1]

Etymology

DELR takes it as the past participle, used as a noun, from Romanian băia (“to suckle, nurse, rear a child”), a verb of Transylvania and the Banat that goes back to Latin bāiulō (“to carry, bear”).^[2][1] This view goes back to Diez and is the one of the DA and the REW.^[2][3] DELR explains the verb either from Vulgar Latin *baliō, a form of the Latin verb with syncope and metathesis, or with the REW from a back-formation *bāiō; the starting sense would be “to carry a child” or “to nurse a child”, and the sense “weaned child” of the 16th-century psalters fits it.^[2] The Latin verb is from bāiulus (“porter, carrier”), a word of unknown origin.^[2][1] Cihac had already made the same connection.^[4]

Among the other explanations, Ciorănescu calls the word obscure: he thinks the first sense was “porter, errand boy” and suggests a Latin agent noun of the type of bāiulātor (“porter”), or a participle *bailiatus, comparing Medieval Latin bailetus (“servant”).^[3] Wiktionary mentions the same Medieval Latin words.^[1] Hasdeu, Tiktin and Scriban took it as the participle of the homonymous verb meaning “to bathe”, so “bathed, cuddled child”.^[2][5] DEX gives no etymology.^[6] Substrate and Dacian explanations are also listed by DELR, which rejects them because the Latin verb is attested from Plautus on.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's psalter of 1570, at Psalm 130, with the form băiatul;^[2][7] DELR dates the word to it.^[2][7] In the 16th-century psalters it means “weaned child”, a sense that survives in some northern dialects.^[2] MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From “small child” the word narrowed to “male child, boy”, and in Transylvania the plural băieți could still mean “children” of either sex.^[9][6] It then spread to “young man, lad” and “son”, and it is used familiarly of grown men: e bun băiat “he's a good fellow”.^[10][6] Another line of senses is “servant, waiter, shop boy”: băiat de prăvălie was the apprentice who learned trade in a shop.^[6][5][3]

MDA2 records the phrases băiat din flori “illegitimate child” and băiat de familie “young man of a good family”.^[8] Romanian formed băietan “big boy, lad” (1839) and the feminine băiată “girl” (1840), still used in Transylvania.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – băiatul in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 130, the first record.^[2][7]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8]
• 1703–1709 – the verb băia “to nurse, rear a child” in Nicolae Costin.^[2]
• 1839 – băietan “big boy, lad”.^[2]
• 1840 – băiată “girl”, in Transylvania.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boy, a male child;^[6][8][1] (regional, in the plural) children of either sex.^[6][8][1]
2. A young man, a lad, an adolescent; familiarly, of grown men: Sunt niște băieți de treabă.^[6][8]
3. A son: Are doi băieți și o fată.^[6][8]
4. (rare) A servant;^[6] băiat de prăvălie “shop boy, apprentice; shop assistant”.^[6]

Word family

• băiețel
• băiețaș
• băietan
• băiețandru
• băiețesc
• băiețește
• băiețime
• băiețoi
• băiată

Related words

• băia
• Latin bāiulus

Usage notes

The plural is băieți; the regional singular băiet was made from the plural.^[6][5] Children's game de-a băieții is played with puppets of a boy and a girl.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. băiat
3. ^ a b c 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. băiat
4. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 21
5. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 157
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 94
7. ^ 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 130:4
8. ^ 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, 176
9. ^ 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. băiat
10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. băiat