decât

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian de + cât (“how much”).^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu lists it among the compounds of cât, which comes from Latin quantus (“how great”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Decît appears many times in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, and in the later psalters of Coresi and the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[6][7] Tiktin and MDA2 cite it first from the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578).^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word introduces the second term of a comparison of inequality: mai mare decât tine “older than you”.^[4][2] After a negative verb it means “only”, matching numai in a positive sentence.^[8][2] With să it means “rather than”, and in Moldavia it is also used as “but, however”.^[4][9] In some dialects it means “only” in positive sentences too.^[2][4] The compound numaidecât “at once” is found in the Bible of 1688.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – decît in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[6]
• c. 1573-1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3]
• 1688 – numaidecât in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. than: introduces the second term of a comparison of inequality: Sora mea e mai înaltă decât mine.^[2][1]
2. (in negative sentences) only, nothing but: Nu bea decât apă.^[2][8][1]

Conjunction

1. Than: introduces a clause of comparison.^[2]
2. Introduces an exception: nu făcea altceva decât să doarmă “he did nothing but sleep”.^[2]
3. (with să) rather than, instead of.^[2][1]
4. (popular) But, however, only that.^[2][1]

Related words

• cât
• de
• numai
• numaidecât

Usage notes

In the phrase n-ai decât să ... it means “you are free to ...” or “the only thing left for you is to ...”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 277
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 616
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. decât
5. ^ 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. cât
6. ^ 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 18:11
7. ^ 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 36:17
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 31
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 193