isteț

Forms

isteț m or n (feminine singular isteață, masculine plural isteți, feminine/neuter plural istețe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic истьць (istĭcĭ, “defendant, debtor”).^[2][3][4][1] The Slavonic word continues Proto-Slavic *jьstьcь;^[1] compare Bulgarian истец (istec, “plaintiff”) and Russian истец (istec, “creditor, claimant”).^[2][5] Bulgarian has the word from Russian, where it was formed on Old East Slavic исто (isto, “capital”).^[6]

The change of meaning from “accused, debtor” to “clever” is unusual;^[7] Tiktin calls it remarkable.^[7] The DA and Ciorănescu compare hoț (“thief”) and hoțoman, which also came to mean a clever, quick-witted person.^[5][2] Miklosich and Cihac derived it instead from истъ (istŭ, “true, certain”), which Ciorănescu finds less likely.^[2] Scriban added the influence of a Slavonic word for “sly”, and the Lexicon de la Buda (1825) took it from Latin excitātus, a view of its time.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1669, in a text of Simion Dascălul, where a servant is described as a clever man: „om isteț”.^[7][5] A Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1672–1673 uses it to translate a word for “crafty”.^[10] MDA2's first record is Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints (1682–1686), with firea cea isteață “the clever nature”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word combined quickness of mind with a little cunning: Tiktin quotes isteț spre strâmbătate “clever at wrongdoing”.^[7][5] Dosoftei also used it for skill in a craft, isteață la cetit “skilled at reading”.^[5] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has it in Proverbs.^[11] Klein's dictionary of 1801 renders it with Latin ingeniosus.^[12]

From the 19th century the main sense is “clever, bright”, as in Eminescu's copilașul cel isteț “the clever little child”.^[7][13] MDA2 records the older senses “nimble”, “brave” and regional “cheerful”;^[4][13] Coșbuc uses it of a lively gait.^[4][13]

Timeline

• c. 1669 – first record, in Simion Dascălul.^[7]
• 1672–1673 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1682–1686 – Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[4]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1801 – in Klein's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. clever, quick-witted, skilful; also as a noun, a clever person: un copil isteț “a bright child”.^[3][4]
2. Of the mind or character: showing sharpness and ingenuity.^[4]
3. Lively, nimble.^[3][13]
4. (old) Brave.^[4]
5. (regional) Cheerful.^[4]

Word family

• isteție
• istețime
• isteți

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. isteț
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 526
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1169
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. isteț
6. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 2, 90
7. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. isteț
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 664
9. ^ 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. 330
10. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. isteț
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Prov 28:2
12. ^ 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. 386
13. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 552