dușman

Forms

dușman m (plural dușmani, feminine equivalent dușmană or dușmancă)^[1] In Moldavia the stress is often on the first syllable, dúșman.^[2][3] Transylvania and the older texts also have dujman: „au închis pe dujman în piscupie” “they shut the enemy in the bishop's palace” (1801).^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish دشمن (düşman, “enemy”), one of the Ottoman Turkish words of the Balkans.^[3][6][5][7] The Turkish word comes from Persian دشمن (dušman, “enemy”), which DELR traces to Old Persian dušmanah- (“hostile, ill-minded”), from duš- (“bad”) and manah- (“thought”).^[2][1][8] In Turkish it replaced the old word for “enemy”, yağı.^[8]

DELR allows that the word came earlier, from Cuman, where the forms tusmen “enemy” and dusmanlar “enemies” are recorded; the personal names of the 15th century point that way.^[2] Wiktionary too gives a Kipchak source, later reinforced by Ottoman Turkish.^[1] Scriban and the Lexicon of Buda saw in the Persian word Ancient Greek δυσμενής (dusmenḗs, “hostile”), a view of their time.^[9][10]

The word is shared with the neighbouring languages: Ciorănescu compares Albanian, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian dušman.^[7] South of the Danube it is Aromanian dușman.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the personal name Dușman in a Wallachian document of 1469.^[2][5][12] As a common noun, “enemy”, it is first found in the Alexandria of 1620.^[2] MDA2 dates its first record to Ion Neculce's chronicle (c. 1743), where a vizier is „prieten lui Constantin-Vodă şi duşman lui Mihai-Vodă” “a friend of Prince Constantin and an enemy of Prince Mihai”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a person hostile to someone, and an enemy in war.^[3][2] DELR also records the opponent in a game of chess, in old use.^[2] Used as an adjective, it describes feelings, acts and the forces of nature that work against one: oaste dușmană “the enemy army”.^[5][6]

The proverb Tiktin quotes, Păzește-mă, Doamne, de prieteni, că de dușmani mă păzesc eu singur “Lord, guard me from my friends;^[1] I can guard myself from my enemies”, shows the word at home in popular speech.^[5] In northern Transylvania it became an intensifying adverb, “extraordinarily”, and regionally an adjective “cunning” for animals.^[2][6] The derivatives dușmănie “enmity”, dușmănesc and dușmănește appear in Teodor Corbea's dictionary of 1691–1697.^[2]

Timeline

• 1469 – Dușman as a personal name in a Wallachian document.^[2][5]
• 1620 – dușman “enemy” in the Alexandria.^[2]
• 1691-1697 – dușmănie, dușmănesc and dușmănește in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• c. 1743 – dușman in Ion Neculce's chronicle.^[6][4]
• 1818 – the verb dușmăni “to hate, to be hostile” in Petru Maior.^[2]
• 1825 – the feminine dușmancă.^[2]
• 1842 – dușmănos “hostile” in Negruzzi.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who is hostile to someone or something, who hates or wishes harm; an enemy.^[3][6][1]
2. The enemy in war.^[3][6]

Adjective

1. Showing hostility; of things and forces of nature, making things hard.^[6][5]

Word family

• dușmancă
• dușmănesc
• dușmănește
• dușmăni
• dușmănie
• dușmănime
• dușmănos
• îndușmăni

Related words

• vrăjmaș
• inamic
• Aromanian dușman

Usage notes

MDA2 records a-și pune dușmanul la cale “to make peace with one's enemy”, which also means to eat one's fill.^[6]

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 l m n o 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. dușman
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 337
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dușman
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. dușman
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 777
7. ^ a b c 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. dușman
8. ^ a b Eren, Hasan (1999), Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü, Ankara: Bizim Büro
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 456
10. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 203
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 422
12. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. dușman