mândru

Forms

mândru m or n (feminine singular mândră, masculine plural mândri, feminine/neuter plural mândre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic мѫдръ (mǫdrŭ, “wise, prudent”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu cites Miklosich, Cihac and Byhan for this view.^[2] The Slavonic adjective continues Proto-Slavic *mǫdrъ (“wise”), whose descendants include Russian мудрый (mudryj) and Polish mądry;^[6][1] Wiktionary traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *mondʰh₁ros.^[1] Scriban compared German munter (“lively”), a view of his own.^[7]

Megleno-Romanian has mǫndru (“sensible, wise”),^[2][8] which Capidan derives from a Bulgarian dialect form.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Coresi's Molitvenic of 1564, with the Slavonic sense “wise”: „Fiți mîndri... ca șerpii” “be ye wise as serpents”.^[3][9] The Palia de la Orăștie (1581) calls the wise men of Egypt măndrii, and the New Testament of 1648 names the Magi „mîndrii de la răsărit” “the wise men from the east”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian kept the Slavonic meaning, “wise, clever, capable”, and used the noun for a learned man, a philosopher or a magus.^[9][3] Already in Varlaam's Cazania (1643) a man is punished by God „căci era mîndru” “because he was proud”, and the sense of pride became the main one.^[9] Șăineanu explained the change as pejorative: from “wise” to one who thinks himself wise, and so haughty.^[5] Ciorănescu points to the same development in Czech moudřiti se “to become conceited”, and cites Șăineanu's semasiology for it.^[2]

A third sense, “beautiful, splendid”, is recorded in a text of 1680, of royal courts „foarte mândre și frumoase” “very splendid and beautiful”.^[9] Klein's dictionary of 1801 gives both, with Latin pulcher and formosus beside superbus and arrogans.^[10] In folk speech the word means “handsome, fine”, also as an adverb “nicely”, and as a noun mândru, mândră “sweetheart”.^[4][11] The Bulgarian dialect of the Banat borrowed the adverb as Bulgarian мъндру (măndru, “proudly, haughtily”).^[12]

Timeline

• 1564 – mîndri “wise” in Coresi's Molitvenic, the first record.^[3][9]
• 1581 – măndrii “the wise men” of Egypt in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[9]
• 1643 – “proud, haughty” in Varlaam's Cazania.^[9][3]
• 1648 – mîndrii “the Magi” in the New Testament of 1648.^[9]
• 1664 – mîndre glossing Slavonic тщеславный “vainglorious” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1680 – “splendid”, of royal courts.^[9]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary gives both “beautiful” and “proud”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. proud, pleased (with de): having a sense of dignity and confidence in one's own worth: mândru de copiii lui “proud of his children”.^[4][3]
2. haughty, orgolios, trufaș: having too high an opinion of oneself.^[4][3]
3. (popular) Handsome, splendid, falnic.^[4][3]
4. (obsolete) Wise, clever, capable.^[3][9]

Noun

1. (popular) sweetheart, iubit: a person loved by someone of the other sex.^[4][1]
2. mândrele (feminine plural, with the article): the iele, the fairies of folklore.^[4]

Word family

• mândrie
• mândri
• înmândri
• preamândru

Related words

• Megleno-Romanian mǫndru
• Old Church Slavonic мѫдръ (mǫdrŭ)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. mîndru
3. ^ 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, 1469
4. ^ 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. 633
5. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 380
6. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 820
8. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 195
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mîndru
10. ^ 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. 395
11. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. mândru
12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 399
13. ^ 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. mîndre