bestie

Forms

bestie f (plural bestii)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”), also borrowed from Italian bestia.^[2] DEX 2009 and MDN also give both words.^[3][4] The DA, Tiktin, Scriban, DN, NODEX and MDA2 name only the Latin word.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} Ciorănescu names only the Italian one and dates it to the 19th century.^[11] In Transylvania the variant beștie also came through Hungarian bestia or bestye.^[2][12]

The Latin word has an uncertain origin; de Vaan compares bēlua (“beast”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Transylvanian variant beștie in 1784; the form bestie is in Samuil Micu's dictionary (1780–1801).^[2] In the old language it meant any animal.^[10][2] MDA2's first record is late, Vlahuță's poems of 1894, where it means a beast: „Oasele fosile de bestii” “the fossil bones of beasts”.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “animal” narrowed to “wild beast”, and figuratively to a cruel, savage person, as in Caragiale: „O bestie lacomă de lucruri delicate” “a beast greedy for fine things”.^[5][2][6] Under Hungarian influence the word also meant “whore” in Transylvania, the sense of Hungarian bestia.^[12]

Romanian borrowed a family of related words from French and Latin rather than forming them itself: bestialitate in 1829–1830, bestial in 1857, and bestiar “bestiary” in 1936.^[2] Bestial also came to mean “excellent” in colloquial speech.^[2]

Timeline

• 1784 – the variant beștie, the first dated record.^[2]
• 1780–1801 – bestie in Samuil Micu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1822 – bestiar “gladiator who fought wild beasts”, in Bobb's dictionary.^[2]
• 1829–1830 – bestialitate.^[2]
• 1857 – bestial in Polizu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1894 – bestii in Vlahuță's poems.^[10][5]
• 1936 – bestiar “medieval bestiary”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wild beast, fiară;^[3][10] (dated) any animal.^[3][10]
2. (figurative) A cruel, savage person; a brute: S-a purtat ca o bestie cu cei din jur.^[3][14]
3. (regional, Transylvania) A whore.^[12]

Related words

• bestial
• bestialitate
• bestiar
• Latin bēstia

Usage notes

A different bestie, a term of carpenters and coopers, is a variant of beschie.^[5][10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. bestie
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 100
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. bestie
5. ^ 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. bestie
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bestie
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 165
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bestie
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. bestie
10. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 199
11. ^ 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. bestie
12. ^ a b c Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 108
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bestie