dumneata

Forms

dumneata (genitive/dative dumitale)^[2][1] The genitive-dative is dumitale, written in short d-tale; the nominative is written in short d-ta.^[2][3] Old and regional variants are many, among them domnia ta, domneata, dumnetá, dumatá, dumitá and mneatá.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian domnie + ta, from the phrase ⟨domnia ta⟩ “your lordship”: the articled form of domnie “lordship, rule” and the possessive ta “your”, as DEX, MDA2, the DLR and DELR give it.^[2][4][6][5] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of domn “lord, sir”, which continues Latin dominus.^[7] The same pattern gave the other Romanian pronouns of politeness, dumnealui, dumneasa and dumneavoastră, from the phrases with lui, sa and voastră.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and MDA2 date the first record to 1521;^[5][4] DELR's record is the genitive-dative domnietale in a Romanian document.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The phrase fused into one word and was shortened further in speech: DELR derives mata from mneata, itself from dumneata, and explains matale and mnetale as genitive-dative forms reinterpreted as nominative.^[5] In the 17th and 18th centuries it was a respectful form of address: Neculce has „Ce dzici în fluier, dumneata, logofete?” “What are you playing on the pipe, sir chancellor?”, and a letter of 1691 asks „Ce-ți iaste dumitale acest cocon?” “What is this boy to you?”.^[6] In Klein's dictionary of 1801 it is glossed Latin Tua, vestra Dominatio.^[8] As dumneavoastră took over the higher degree of politeness, dumneata came to mark only a slight degree of it, often with a familiar tone.^[5][6] MDA2 now labels it dated.^[4]

Timeline

• 1521 – domnietale, the first record.^[5][4]
• 1586 – the third-person dumneasa “his/her lordship”.^[5]
• 1691 – the genitive-dative dumitale in a letter.^[6]
• 1801 – dumneatà in Klein's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. you: the polite pronoun of the second person singular, today showing only a slight degree of politeness, often with a familiar tone.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• domn
• domnie
• ta
• mata
• dumneavoastră
• dumnealui
• dumneasa

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 336
3. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 184
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 771
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dumneata
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. 356