iată

Etymology

It is most often explained as borrowed from Bulgarian ето (eto, “here is, look”), the source DEX, MDA2, NODEX and CADE give.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary also takes it from Bulgarian and adds that iacă may have influenced it.^[1] Tiktin compares both the Slavic word and Albanian jatë, and Șăineanu points to the Albanian form as well.^[6][7] The Bulgarian particle continues Proto-Slavic *eto, which Derksen explains as a particle Proto-Indo-European *h₁e joined to the neuter pronoun *to.^[8]

Ciorănescu discusses the word under ia and prefers a Romanian origin: he sees in it a shortening of the phrase ⟨ia uite⟩ “look here”, like the colloquial ⟨ioite⟩, ⟨iote⟩, ⟨iete⟩ and ⟨ietă⟩.^[9] He notes that the DA, Candrea and Scriban derive it from Slavic, with the Albanian word compared, and refers to a study by Procopovici in Dacoromania X.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is as old as the Romanian texts: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has it seventeen times, the first at Psalm 7:4.^[10] Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1561, at Matthew 2:13, and MDA2 cites the Tetraevanghel of 1574.^[6][3] From the start it calls attention to what follows, like “behold” in the English Bible.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The old biblical use stayed alive: the New Testament of 1648 has „Iată va trimete Satana unii dintre voi în temniță” “behold, Satan will cast some of you into prison”, and the Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses the word more than 1,300 times.^[6][11] Followed by an unstressed pronoun it works almost like a verb: iată-mă “here I am”, iată-l “there he is”, iat-o că vine “here she comes”.^[6][3][12] In Moldavia iată-l-ăi was also said, where Tiktin reads -ăi as a form of îi “is”.^[6]

After când or numai ce the word marks a sudden, unexpected event, a sense that DEX lists as “suddenly, without warning”.^[3][13][2] The Latinist glossary of Laurian and Massim (1871) called iată a bad spelling of a bad pronunciation and wanted ecco instead, a proposal that did not take hold.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – iată seventeen times in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[10]
• 1561 – Coresi's Tetraevanghel, Matthew 2:13.^[6]
• 1574 – the Tetraevanghel of 1574, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1648 – the New Testament of 1648, Revelation 2:10.^[6]
• 1688 – more than 1,300 times in the Bucharest Bible, from Genesis 1:29 on.^[11]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary enters iáta with iaca and Latin ecce.^[15]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Look!, see!, behold!: draws attention to what follows; often with că (iată că vine “here he comes”) or with an unstressed pronoun (iată-ne acasă “here we are, home”).^[2][3][12]
2. suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning.^[2][1]
3. Expresses surprise at something unexpected, after când or numai ce.^[3][13]

Related words

• ia
• iacă
• uite

Usage notes

MDA2 records the variants ietă and, in the regions, etă, ete and etete.^[3] Iacătă is probably a blend of iacă and iată.^[6] The fixed phrase iată ce (or iată cum) introduces an explanation: “this is what it comes to”.^[4]

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. 485
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1101
4. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. iată
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. iată
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 301
8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 147
9. ^ 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. ia
10. ^ a b 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 7:4
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. FACEREA 1:29
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, 480
13. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. iată
14. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871), Glossariu care coprinde vorbele d'in limba romana straine prin originea sau form'a loru, cumu si celle de origine indouiosa, Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. iată
15. ^ 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. 372