duios

Forms

duios m or n (feminine singular duioasă, masculine plural duioși, feminine/neuter plural duioase)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *doliōsus, formed on *dolium (“pain”), a rare Latin word known from inscriptions and in literary texts only in the compound Latin cordolium (“heartache”), itself from doleō (“to hurt”).^[2][1] This is the explanation of Candrea–Densusianu, Pușcariu, Graur, DEX, the DLR and MDA2.^{[3][2][4][5][6]} Pușcariu reconstructed *doleōsus from the verb instead, but DELR objects that -ōsus is in principle a suffix of nouns.^[2]

Of the two other explanations, Ciorănescu allows an internal Romanian derivative of a lost noun *doi from the same Latin noun.^[3][1] Tiktin derived it from durea “to hurt”, through the old forms with /j/ such as the subjunctive ⟨să doaie⟩, as cuvios comes from cuveni;^[3][2] DER finds this less evident, and DELR thinks the forms îndoiat, Aromanian dul´at and dol´ (“tender, dear”) support the Latin noun as the base.^[3][2] DELR adds that speakers linked the word with dor “longing”, which explains how its meaning developed.^[2]

Its closest Romance cognates are Italian doglioso, which may also be an Italian formation on doglia, and Friulian duliôs.^[2][1] That adjective is probably the same Latin noun, reinterpreted under the influence of Byzantine Greek δόλιος (dólios, “poor, unfortunate”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1591–1606, in a text published in the chrestomathy of Old Romanian;^[2][7] Tiktin's first record is the Govora homiliary of 1642.^[2][7] The old sense was “painful”: the Bible of 1688 has „duioasă e rana ta” “your wound is grievous” (Jeremiah), for Greek ἀλγηρά, and „Sărac și duios sânt eu” “I am poor and in pain” (Psalm 68), for Greek ἀλγῶν.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Ciorănescu notes that the first sense, “painful, sorrowful”, is richly attested from the 17th to the 19th century.^[3] It was used of bodily pain, a wound or a sore, and of grief: a sad sight, mournful sighs, a weeping mother.^[7][5] Old texts also use it for “tenderly caring”: Mărgăritarele compare God's care to that of „o maică duioasă de coconii ei” “a mother tender towards her children”.^[7]

In the modern language the sense moved from sorrow to tenderness: a melancholy, moving song, a soft voice, a gentle, loving look.^[5][9] In western Transylvania it also means “eager, avid”.^[3][6] The derivatives followed the new sense: duioșime (1836), duioșie and înduioșa (both 1839) and înduioșător (1869).^[2]

Timeline

• 1591–1606 – first record, in a text of the chrestomathy of Old Romanian.^[2]
• 1642 – in the Govora homiliary.^[7]
• 1688 – duios and duioasă “painful, in pain” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8][6]
• 1836 – duioșime “tenderness” in Asachi.^[2]
• 1839 – duioșie and înduioșa in Vaillant's dictionary.^[2]
• 1855 – duință “nostalgia, tenderness”, probably a coinage of Costache Stamati.^[2]
• 1869 – înduioșător “moving”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. touching, moving; stirring tender feelings.^[4][9]
2. gentle, soothing, sweet: o voce duioasă “a gentle voice”.^[4][6]
3. Sentimental; loving, tender.^[4][1]
4. sorrowful, sad, plaintive.^[4][1]
5. (obsolete and regional) Painful.^[6][5]
6. (regional, western Transylvania) Eager, longing for something.^[3][6]

Word family

• duioșenie
• duioșie
• duioșime
• înduioșa
• înduioșător
• înduioși

Related words

• durea
• dor
• durere

Usage notes

It is also used as an adverb: a privit-o duios “he looked at her tenderly”.^[9] Old texts have the variants dios and doios.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. duios
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. duios
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 335
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. duios
6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 769
7. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. duios
8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 68:33
9. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 180