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cinste

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word cinste

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1474 More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Old Church Slavonic чьсть
Ultimate origin
Proto-Slavic *čьstь
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Church Slavonic чьсть (čĭstĭ)
Romanian cinste

Forms

cinste f (uncountable)[1] Old texts also have ciste, censte and cinstă.[2][3] The Psaltirea Scheiană uses both cinste and ciste, and once cinstă.[4] Beside the usual singular-only use, rare plurals cinsti and cinsturi occur; in folk usage the plural cinstele names the gifts made to a bride.[3][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic чьсть (čĭstĭ, “honour, respect”), a word of the Slavonic of the church and chancery.[2][6][7][3][1] The Slavonic noun continues Proto-Slavic *čьstь (“honour, respect”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷit-tis, a derivative of the root *(s)kʷeyt- (“to notice, perceive”).[1][8][9] The same Slavic word survives as Russian честь (čestʹ) and Bulgarian чест (čest).[10][9]

The ⟨n⟩ of the Romanian word is not in the etymon.[2] Tiktin, the DA and others explain it by a crossing with Slavonic чѧсть (čęstĭ, “part, share”), a view DER and Scriban repeat;[11] Mihăilă held that the ⟨n⟩ arose by accident, and DELR gives both views.[2][6][11] DELR adds that the old variant ⟨ciste⟩ cannot continue the Slavonic noun directly, since Slavonic /ĭ/ regularly gives Romanian /e/; it suggests a confusion with чистъ (čistŭ, “pure”) for the ⟨i⟩ of such forms.[2] Cihac and Miklosich already derived the word from the Slavonic noun.[12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to about 1474, before the first Romanian texts.[13][2] In Romanian texts the word appears in the earliest psalter, the early-16th-century Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, at Psalm 8:6 and elsewhere.[14] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) as its first record.[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language cinste meant honour in several senses: respect and esteem shown to someone, the honour of a rank, and a rank or office itself.[2][6] The DA notes that the moral sense first leaned towards loyalty, faithfulness and chastity, and only later towards the dignity and virtue of a person; the neologism onoare then took over much of the word's ground.[15] Tiktin notes that the Latinist dictionary of Laurian and Massim replaced it almost everywhere with onoare.[13]

From honour shown to someone came concrete senses: an offering, a gift, a feast given in someone's honour, and in popular speech a drink, especially brandy.[2][6] A face cinste now means “to stand someone a drink”.[7] In Banat and Transylvania the old phrase în cinste meant “for nothing, in vain” (1693).[16]

The verb cinsti “to honour; to treat” is recorded from about 1500 and cinstit “honest” from 1649;[2] DELR derives the verb from cinste or from Slavonic чьстити (čĭstiti).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1474 – the first record.[13][2]
  • c. 1500 – the verb cinsti.[2]
  • c. 1500-1520 – cinste in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 8:6).[14]
  • c. 1563-1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record;[3] necinste “dishonour” in 1563.[3][2]
  • 1649 – cinstit “honest, upright”.[2]
  • 1688 – 86 occurrences of cinste in the Bucharest Bible.[17]
  • 1693 – the phrase în cinste “in vain”.[16]
  • 1890 – cinstaș “one who brings wedding gifts”.[2]
  • 1893 – cinsteală “a treat, feasting”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. honesty, integrity, uprightness.[7][3][1] Pe cinstea mea! “on my honour!”[7]
  2. Virtue, faithfulness, chastity.[7]
  3. Respect, esteem, regard;[7] cu cinste “honourably, deservedly”, a da cinstea pe rușine “to disgrace oneself”.[7]
  4. honour, favour: în cinstea cuiva “in someone's honour”;[7] a-i face cinste cuiva “to do someone credit”.[7]
  5. Ceremony, pomp.[7]
  6. (popular) A gift, a present;[7] pe cinste “first-rate, splendid”.[7]
  7. (popular) A treat, a feast where drink flows;[7] a face cinste “to stand someone a drink”; an alcoholic drink.[7][1]

Word family

  • cinstaș
  • cinsteală
  • cinsti
  • cinstire
  • cinstit
  • cinstitor
  • necinste
  • necinstit
  • preacinstit

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 j k l m n o p 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. cinste
  3. ^ 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, 400
  4. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 268
  5. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 130
  6. ^ 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. cinste
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 185
  8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 94
  10. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 4, 350
  11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 280
  12. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 52
  13. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cinste
  14. ^ a b 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 8:6
  15. ^ 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. cinste
  16. ^ a b Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 106
  17. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 28:2

Related etymologies

  • prea · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • înșela · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • pară · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • somn · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • veste · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • coș · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • lin · also from Old Church Slavonic
  • râs · also from Old Church Slavonic
Cite this entry

“Cinste.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/cinste. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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