greșeală

Forms

greșeală f (plural greșeli)^[1] The old form is greșală, still used in the west in the 20th century;^[2][3][4] Coresi's Gospel book renders the Lord's Prayer: „Și iartă noao greșalele noastre, cum iertăm și noi greșiților noștri” “and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian greși + -eală, the suffix of nouns of action.^[5][4][6][1] The verb greși “to sin, to err” is from Old Church Slavonic грѣшити (grěšiti, “to sin”), from грѣхъ (grěxŭ, “sin”).^[5][4][7] Ciorănescu compares Bulgarian греша (greša) and the Serbo-Croatian and Russian verbs.^[5] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 derived the noun from Latin transgressio with the first syllable lost, a view of its time.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Codicele Voronețean, at Acts 23:29, where the word means a fault or wrongdoing.^[2] Coresi's Gospel book uses the plural greșalele for the sins forgiven in the Lord's Prayer.^[2] MDA2, which dates it from a Menaion of 1776, gives “sin” as its oldest sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word meant a sin or a wrong done to someone: Antim Ivireanul called penance a means „făr-de greșală” “unfailing” of salvation.^[2] From this came the general sense, any departure from what is true, right or normal, which may be deliberate or not, and the thing that results from it, such as a misprint, greșeală de tipar.^[6][2] MDA2 also records an obsolete sense “bodily defect”.^[4]

Two adverbial phrases are common: din greșeală “by mistake, unintentionally” and fără greșeală “flawlessly”, which in the old language meant “infallible”.^[6][2]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – greșeală in the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 23:29), the first record.^[2]
• 16th century – greșalele noastre in the Lord's Prayer in Coresi's Gospel book.^[2]
• 1688 – greșelii in the Bucharest Bible (Preoția 6:17).^[9]
• 1776 – “sin” in a Menaion, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 1825 – greșéla glossed “error, fault” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mistake or error: something done, deliberately or not, that departs from what is true, right or normal, and that may cause harm; also the result of such an act: am făcut o greșeală “I made a mistake”.^[6][4][1]
2. (obsolete) A sin; a wrong done to someone.^[4][2][3]
3. (obsolete) A bodily defect.^[4]

Related words

• greși
• greș
• negreșit

Usage notes

Din greșeală means “by mistake, unintentionally” and fără greșeală “perfectly, without a fault”.^[6][4] The plural is greșeli; the old plurals greșele and greșale are obsolete.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. greșeală
3. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 575
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1022
5. ^ 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. greși
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 450
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ a b 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. 244
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Preoția 6:17