domni

Forms

domni (third-person singular present domnește, past participle domnit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Romanian domn (“lord, prince”), made into a verb of the fourth conjugation.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Aromanian has the matching verb Aromanian dumnescu, formed on its domnu.^[7][1] The noun is domnus, the Late Latin form of dominus (“master”), an old derivative of domus (“house”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the verb to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[5] A Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553 renders Matthew 20:25: „știți că domnii păgânilor domnesc cu ceste” “you know that the princes of the Gentiles rule over them”.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

The old verb was transitive: one ruled a country, a city or an empire, as in Moxa's chronicle and Nicolae Costin's au mai domnit Țara Moldovii.^[8][6] Today it is intransitive, with peste “over”.^[2][3] As a reflexive it meant to become prince, and in popular speech to put on the airs of a lord or to dress like a townsman.^[5][3] Familiarly it could also mean to address someone as domnule.^[5][6][9] Figuratively it is said of silence, peace or cold that prevail, and of heights or buildings that dominate a place, the last a calque of the French dominer.^[5][2][10] The derivative domnitor “ruler” is recorded from 1582.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[5]
• 1551–1553 – domnesc “they rule” in a Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book (Matthew 20:25).^[8][6]
• 1582 – the derivative domnitor in the Palia of Orăștie.^[5]
• 1649 – domnesc glosses Slavonic господствую in Mardarie's lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – domnesc, domnind and domnit in the Bucharest Bible.^[12][3]
• 1862 – Pontbriant records the sense “to dominate (a landscape)”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To reign: to rule a principality, a country or an empire as its prince.^[2][3][1]
2. (figurative) To prevail, to hold sway: În sală domnea o liniște deplină.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) To live without cares or wants, to live like a lord.^[2][13]
4. (figurative, of heights or buildings) To dominate a place, to tower over it.^[2][3]
5. (reflexive, popular) To behave like a lord, to put on airs.^[3][5]

Word family

• domnitor

Related words

• domn
• doamnă
• domnie
• Aromanian dumnescu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 744
4. ^ 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. domn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. domn
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. domni
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
8. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. domni
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
10. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 228
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. domnesc
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 20:25
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional