frumusețe

Forms

frumusețe f (plural frumuseți)^[1] The old texts write frumseațe, frâmseațe and frâmsețe: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has frumseațe at Psalm 20:5, and Coresi's psalter of 1570 frâmseațe.^[2] MDA2 records the popular variant frumsețe and Moldavian frumuseță, frâmseață and others, and an old plural frumusețuri.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian frumos + -ețe, the adjective “beautiful” with the suffix of abstract nouns.^[4][3][1][5] The adjective is from Latin fōrmōsus (“beautiful, shapely”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is frumseațe in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 20:5.^[2] MDA2 dates it from the Codicele Voronețean, which renders 1 Peter: „dulcea frumuseațe a feațeei ei piare” “the sweet beauty of its face perishes”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The old texts used the word, often in the plural, for the outward show of beauty: Coresi's psalter speaks of the beauties of the earth, „toate frâmsețile pământului”.^[4] From the abstract quality it came to name a beautiful thing, and later a very beautiful woman: Negruzzi writes that someone did not seem to notice he was beside o frumusețe.^[4][6] Followed by de it works as a superlative of frumos, as in o frumusețe de fată “a beauty of a girl”, used by Creangă and Ispirescu.^[4][7] Iordache Golescu recorded the proverb Frumusețea, avere nestatornică “beauty is fickle wealth”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – frumseațe in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• c. 1551-1558 – frâmseațe in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[8]
• c. 1563-1583 – frumuseațe in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][4]
• 1570 – frâmsețile in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• 1688 – frumuseațele ochilor in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. beauty: the quality of being beautiful: de toată frumusețea “exceptionally beautiful, wonderful”.^[7][1]
2. A beautiful thing or act; followed by de, a superlative of frumos: o frumusețe de mașină “a beauty of a car”.^[7][3]
3. A very beautiful woman, a beauty.^[7][6]

Word family

• înfrumuseța

Usage notes

Sense 1 has no plural; the plural frumuseți belongs to the concrete senses.^[7] The old phrase a sta de frumusețe meant “to be idle, there only to be admired”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 20:5
3. ^ 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, 947
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. frumusețe
5. ^ a b 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. frumos
6. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 261
7. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 416
8. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 95:6
9. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 73:18