fiastru

Forms

fiastru m (plural fiaștri, feminine equivalent fiastră)^[1] Old texts often have hiastru: „Având un hiastru al său, pre nume Lupașco” “having a stepson of his, named Lupașco” (Neculce).^[2][3] A plural fiestri occurs in a document of 1676: „nu sânt din fiestri” “they are not of the stepsons”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fīliaster (“stepson”), formed in Latin from fīlius (“son”) with the suffix -aster.^[4][2][5][1] Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, the REW, Philippide and the DAR for this etymology.^[4] The feminine fiastră “stepdaughter” may also continue fīliastra directly.^[4][6] Iordan held that the word was a legal term rather than a popular one, a view Ciorănescu finds uncertain.^[4]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian hiljeastru.^[7][4] Its Romance cognates include Italian figliastro, Sardinian fizastru, French fillâtre, Occitan filhastre, Catalan fillastre, Spanish hijastro and Portuguese filhastro.^[6][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1471, from the Romanian words in the Slavonic charters.^[2] The feminine fiastră follows in 1621.^[2] MDA2 cites Neculce's chronicle, which has the form hiastru.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single sense “stepson”, with the feminine for “stepdaughter”, but it went out of common use and survives as an archaism.^[5][9][10] Old documents also use it as an adjective, feciorii fiastri “the stepsons”.^[3] In Bihor the forms fiostru and hiostru show a change of suffix.^[3] Nineteenth-century poets used it figuratively: Bolintineanu for an unnatural son, Eminescu for the stars as the “sweet stepchildren of the sky”.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1471 – the first record, in the Slavonic charters.^[2]
• 1621 – the feminine fiastră.^[2]
• 1676 – the plural fiestri in a document.^[3]
• 1685 – feciorii fiastri “the stepsons”, used as an adjective.^[3]
• 1810 – hiastru in a document printed in the Uricariul.^[3]
• 1825 – fiastru or fiiastru in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) stepson; feminine fiastră: stepdaughter.^[5][12][1]

Word family

• fiastră

Related words

• fiu
• vitreg
• Aromanian hiljeastru

Usage notes

The plural is fiaștri; older plurals are fiastri and fieștri.^[3][5] The word is pronounced in three syllables, fi-as-tru.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. fiastru
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. fiastru
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. fiastru
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 899
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. fiastru
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 556
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3295
9. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. fiastru
11. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. fiastru
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 283
13. ^ 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. 217