chestie

Forms

chestie f (plural chestii)^[1]

Etymology

It is the familiar variant of chestiune, which is borrowed from French question, with Latin quaestiō (“a seeking, a question”) as a second source.^[2][3][4][1] DELR treats the Latin word as a learned loan and derives it from quaerō (“to seek, to ask”).^[3] Graur lists the Romanian neologism under the family of the same Latin verb, beside cere and cuceri, which Romanian inherited from the same verb.^[5]

The older variants were cestie, cestiune and cvestie.^[3][2] The dictionaries list the word as a variant of the full form and send the reader there.^[4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 lists chestiune and chestie together, in Cyrillic transitional spelling, glossed by Latin quaestio: a question, a proposition to be discussed, the thing in question.^[8] DELR dates the family to 1823, with the form cvestie.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a neologism the word first meant a question put to someone and a matter under discussion, the senses chestiune keeps in formal use.^[8][4] The short form chestie became the colloquial one and widened to “a thing, a happening, an affair”, a general word for anything one does not name.^[3][9][1] Tiktin records a familiar plural chestioane from a 19th-century comedy.^[10]

Timeline

• 1823 – cvestie, the first record of the family.^[3]
• 1833 – chestiune in Tiktin's first record.^[10]
• 1848 – chestie beside chestiune in Negulici's dictionary.^[8]
• 1856 – chestionar “questionnaire”.^[3]
• 1857 – chestiona “to question”.^[3]
• 1870 – chestie in Costinescu's dictionary, as a variant of questiune.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) A thing, a thingy: an object or matter one does not name: Ce-i chestia asta pe masă?^[3][1]
2. (colloquial) An affair, a happening, a piece of business.^[4][9][1]
3. A matter or issue under discussion, a question.^[4][1]

Related words

• chestiune
• chestionar
• chestiona
• Latin quaestiō
• French question

Usage notes

In formal writing the full form chestiune is preferred;^[4][2] chestie is labelled familiar.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. chestiune
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. chestiune
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 177
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 80
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 375
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. chestie
8. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. chestiune
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. chestiune
10. ^ 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. chestiune
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 183