drăguț

Forms

drăguț m or n (feminine singular drăguță, masculine plural drăguți, feminine/neuter plural drăguțe)^[1] Klein's dictionary of 1801 spells it Dragútzu and glosses it with Latin amatus, charus, dilectus “loved, dear, beloved”.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Romanian drag (“dear”) + -uț, a diminutive of the adjective.^[3][4][5][1] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of drag, which he takes from Slavonic драгъ (dragŭ, “precious, dear”).^[6][7] Tiktin notes that other diminutives of the same adjective, such as drăguleț and drăgulean, are used in the same way.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DLR date the first record to 1502, from the dictionary of Romanian elements in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[8][5] MDA2 cites it first from the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650–1700.^[3] A lexicon of 1664 uses it to render a Slavonic name.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “dear, beloved” and then “pleasing in looks or manner, pretty, charming”.^[3][5][8] Used as a noun it became the folk word for a sweetheart or lover: Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada (c. 1800–1812) has drăguță “sweetheart”, and Heliade uses it of a man's beloved.^[5] The phrase a fi drăguț came to mean “to be kind, obliging”.^[4][3] Tiktin records an ironic use, o drăguță de palmă “a fine slap”.^[8] In Bukovina drăguțul also names a folk dance.^[5]

Timeline

• 1502 – first record, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[8][5]
• c. 1650–1700 – in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[3]
• 1664 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[9]
• 1801 – Dragútzu “beloved, dear” in Klein's dictionary.^[2]
• c. 1800–1812 – drăguță “sweetheart” in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cute, pretty, charming in looks or manner: o fetiță drăguță.^[4][3][1]
2. Dear, beloved.^[4][3]
3. a fi drăguț (cu cineva) or, adverbially, a se purta drăguț: to be kind and obliging to someone.^[4][3]

Noun

1. (colloquial) A term of endearment for a loved person: Vino aici, drăguțule!^[4]
2. (popular) A sweetheart, lover.^[4][5][1]

Related words

• drag
• drăgălaș
• îndrăgi

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 355
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, 755
4. ^ 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. 331
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. drăguț
6. ^ 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. drag
7. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
8. ^ 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. drăguț
9. ^ a b 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. drăguț