laș

Forms

laș m (plural lași)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lâche (“cowardly; slack”), a loan of the 19th century.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French adjective comes from the verb lâcher (“to let go, slacken”).^[1] Scriban and the DN go back to Latin laxus (“slack, loose”).^[6][7] Graur groups the word with the learned lax and the inherited verb lăsa, all from the family of the same Latin word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR first record the word in C. A. Rosetti's diaries (1844–1859), where vice is “always weak and cowardly”: „Vițiosul totdauna este slab și laș”.^[4][5] Bălcescu wrote „Cei răi sunt totdeauna lași” “the wicked are always cowards”, and Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) has it as well.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the moral sense of French lâche: a person without courage or sense of honour, and the act that shows it.^[3][5] The sense “base, vile”, which brings it close to mișel and mârșav, is recorded beside it, and MDA2 also gives “dishonest”.^[5][4] The noun lașitate “cowardice” was formed in Romanian after French lâcheté and appears in Rosetti's diaries and in Laurian's philosophy manual of 1846.^[3][9][2]

Timeline

• 1844–1859 – laș and lașitate in C. A. Rosetti's diaries, the first records.^[4][5][9]
• 1846 – lașitate in Laurian's translation of a philosophy manual.^[4][9]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[5]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it “fearful, base”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking courage and a sense of honour; cowardly, base.^[3] Era prea laș ca să spună adevărul.^[3][4]
2. Showing a lack of courage or honour: un atac laș.^[3][11]
3. (rare) dishonest.^[4]

Noun

1. A coward.^[3][1]

Word family

• lașitate

Related words

• lax
• lăsa
• French lâche

Usage notes

MDA2 has a rare homograph laș “joint plate, fishplate”, a technical word from German Lasche, first recorded in 1962.^[4] In Bessarabia Stati records laș as a peasant allotted 24 desyatinas of land.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. laș
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 578
4. ^ 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, 1313
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. laș
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 729
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. laș
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lașitate
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 356
11. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. laș
12. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. s.v. laș