mincinos

Forms

mincinos m or n (feminine singular mincinoasă, masculine plural mincinoși, feminine/neuter plural mincinoase)^[1] The oldest texts write it with /r/ for /n/: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has menciuros (Psalm 108:3), and the Codicele Voronețean has the plural menciuroșii.^[2][3] Old and regional variants are minciunos, mencinos and menciunos;^[3][4] Pontbriant has a rare minținos, reshaped after minți.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian minciună + -os, with the adjective suffix.^{[5][4][3][6][1]} The noun minciună “lie” is from Latin mentiō (“mention”), or a reduced Vulgar Latin *mentītiō.^[4][7] Compare Aromanian minciunos.^[8][1]

The form ⟨minținos⟩ of Pontbriant was reshaped by association with the verb minți “to lie”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is menciuros in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century (Psalm 108:3).^[2] MDA2 dates the word to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), which speaks of “ceale ce întrănse menciuroșii a îmbla” “the things the liars walk in”; the sense there is “lying, a liar”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective and noun first meant a person who tells lies; from this came “false, untrue” of words, testimony and appearances, as in martor mincinos “false witness” and mărturie mincinoasă “false testimony”.^[9][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „Scârbă-s Domnului buzele mincinoase” “lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:23).^[9][10]

In the old language it was used of forged money and of a forger, and of a pretender to a throne: an old history quoted by Tiktin speaks of “un mincinos Mustafa”, a false Mustafa.^[4][9] Regionally it also means “flattering”, and in Muntenia a feminine mincinoasă names a grape variety that is black before it ripens.^[4][3] The figurative sense “deceptive, illusory” appears in the 19th century, in Conachi, Filimon and Eminescu.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – menciuros in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – menciuroșii in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][3]
• 1570 – mincinos in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1645 – vrăjitorii cei mincinoși “the lying sorcerers” in the Romanian Herodotus.^[3]
• 1688 – buzele mincinoase in the Bucharest Bible.^[10][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Given to telling lies; who does not keep their word.^[5][4][1]
2. false, untrue, groundless: o veste mincinoasă.^[5][4]
3. (figurative) deceptive, illusory.^[5]
4. (dated, of coins or documents) Forged.^[4]
5. (regional) Flattering.^[4]

Noun

1. A liar.^[4][1]
2. (dated) A forger of coins.^[4]

Related words

• minciună
• minți
• Aromanian minciunos

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 108:3
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mincinos
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 15
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 655
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 809
7. ^ 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. minciună
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 683
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mincinos
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Paremiile lui Solomon 12:23
11. ^ 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 32:17