dimineață

Forms

dimineață f (plural dimineți)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *demanitia, built on the adverbial phrase Late Latin dē māne (“early in the morning”), from dē and māne (“morning; in the morning”).^[2][3][4][5] Candrea and Densusianu and the DELR also allow a Romanian compound of de with an older noun *mâneață, from Vulgar Latin *mānitia, which fused into one word and then became a noun.^[6][2][1] Ciorănescu gives both explanations.^[7] The simple adverb itself gave mâine “tomorrow”.^[2][8] It is the neuter of an old adjective meaning “good”, compare French de bonne heure (“early”).^[2][9]

The same phrase gave Italian domani, French demain and Catalan demà, all “tomorrow”.^[7][2][10] The Romanian noun survives in all four branches: Aromanian dimineatsã, Megleno-Romanian dimineațata (as an adverb) and Istro-Romanian demaręțę.^{[7][2][11][12]}

The regular outcome was demâneață, usual in the 16th and 17th centuries, which assimilation turned into demineață and then into the present form.^[7][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, which has the forms demenréție, demănráță and demănreáță.^[2] Its verse „De strajea demenreției pănă noapte” means “from the morning watch until night”.^[4] The Codicele Voronețean has „În demăreață ieșiră” “in the morning they went out”.^[4][5] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the modern form: „Şi să făcu seară şi să făcu dimineaţă” “and there was evening and there was morning”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun has kept the sense “the first part of the day, from dawn to noon”.^[2][3] Its articled form dimineața is used as an adverb, “in the morning, every morning”, and the bare form after other adverbs of time, as in azi-dimineață “this morning” and mâine dimineață “tomorrow morning”.^[2][3][5] With mai, foarte or de it means “early”.^[2][3] Figuratively it is the beginning of something.^[13]

The greeting Bună dimineața! gave bună-dimineața, the Moldavian name of a bindweed whose flowers open at dawn, recorded from 1885.^[2][5] In parts of Muntenia dimineți are the food offerings carried each morning for six weeks after a funeral.^[14]

The adverb dis-de-dimineață “at the crack of dawn”, recorded from 1582, has several explanations.^[2] Pușcariu and Tiktin read it as dins (de with a form of Latin ipsum) + de + dimineață.^[2][7] Ciorănescu takes dis as an old word for “half”, kept in Aromanian.^[7] The DELR prefers the first view: the old forms have dins- and dâns-, and the sense is “at the beginning of the morning”, not “in the middle”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – demenréție, demănráță and demănreáță in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – demăreață in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][5]
• 1582 – dâns-de-demâneață “at the crack of dawn”.^[2]
• 1688 – dimineață in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]
• 1857 – the diminutive diminecioară.^[2]
• 1885 – bună-dimineața, a bindweed.^[2]
• 1887 – as-dimineață “this morning”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. morning: the first part of the day, from dawn to noon: de dimineață “early, from early in the day”.^[3][2][1]
2. (figurative) The beginning of something.^[13]

Adverb

1. (as dimineața) In the morning, every morning.^[3][2]
2. (as dimineață, after azi, ieri, mâine, poimâine) In the morning of that day: ieri-dimineață “yesterday morning”.^[3][2]
3. (as dimineață, with mai, foarte, tare, often followed by de) Early.^[3][2]

Word family

• diminecioară
• dis-de-dimineață
• azi-dimineață
• bună-dimineața

Related words

• mâine
• Aromanian dimineatsã
• Latin māne

Usage notes

The adverb dimineața “in the morning” is the articled form of the noun and has no entry of its own: Dimineața beau o cafea “I have a coffee in the morning”.^[3][2] The plural is dimineți.^[3] Familiar speech shortens the greeting to neață.^[2] A proverb says Ziua bună se cunoaște de dimineață “a good day shows itself in the morning”.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 q r s t u v w x y 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. dimineață
3. ^ 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. 315
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dimineață
5. ^ 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. dimineață
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. dimineață
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5294
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2548
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 386
12. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 109
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 117
14. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”