dos

Forms

dos n (plural dosuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin dossum (“back”), the popular form of Latin dorsum (“back”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} De Vaan explains the ⟨ss⟩ as a late assimilation of /rs/, and derives the Latin noun from a compound meaning “turned away”, the source of deorsum (“downwards”) too.^[6][3]

Of the sister branches, the sources record only Istro-Romanian dos.^[2][3][7] The Romance cognates include Dalmatian duas, Italian dosso, French dos, Occitan dos and Catalan dos.^[2][8] dosar “file” is a later borrowing of French dossier, a derivative of the French word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Wallachian charter of 1519.^[3][9][4] MDA2 gives as its first source the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “back of a person” is now dated or popular; ordinary speech uses spate instead.^[4][1] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 still has it: Shem and Japheth „să dusără cu dosul înainte” “went backwards”.^[4]

From the back of the body it came to mean the rear or reverse side of anything: the back of a house, the reverse of a page, the inside of a garment, the back of the hand.^[3][11] In the countryside dos is a sheltered place out of the sun, especially a north-facing slope.^[3][12] A da dosul “to turn one's back” meant “to flee” as early as Neculce, and pe dos is “inside out, the wrong way round”.^[9][11] The verb dosi “to hide; to steal” and the adjective dosnic “hidden, out of the way” are Romanian derivatives.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1519 – dos in a Wallachian charter, the first record.^[3][9]
• 1657 – dosi “to hide; to flee”.^[3]
• second half of the 17th century – dosnic “hidden, out of the way”.^[3]
• 1688 – cu dosul înainte “backwards” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4][13]
• c. 1800 – dosime “back part” in Budai-Deleanu.^[3]
• 1829 – de-a-ndoaselea “backwards, the wrong way round”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The back or rear part of an object, a building, a yard or a creature: dosul casei “the back of the house”.^[11][3]
2. (colloquial) The buttocks, the seat.^[11][3][1]
3. The outer side of the hand or paw, opposite the palm, in dosul mâinii or dosul palmei; the underside of the tongue.^[11][10]
4. The less presentable side of a fabric; the inside of a garment.^[11][3][14]
5. (popular) A sheltered place out of the sun; a north-facing slope.^[3][15]
6. (dated) The back of a person.^[4][10]

Word family

• doseală
• dosi
• dosime
• dosiș
• dosiște
• dositor
• doștină
• dosnic
• de-a-ndoaselea
• pidosnic

Related words

• dosar
• Istro-Romanian dos
• Latin dorsum

Usage notes

Common phrases are pe dos “inside out; the wrong way”, de-a-ndoaselea “backwards, topsy-turvy”, în dosul “behind” and a da dosul “to run away”.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. dos
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. dos
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. dos
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 47
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. dorsum
7. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 107
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2755
9. ^ 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. dos
10. ^ 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, 747
11. ^ 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. 328
12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 194
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 9:23
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dos
15. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 172