misterios

Forms

misterios m or n (feminine singular misterioasă, masculine plural misterioși, feminine/neuter plural misterioase)^[1] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 spells it misteriosŭ, misteriósă, with the final -ŭ of the time.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mystérieux, with borrowed from Italian misterioso beside it in DEX, DN, NODEX and Scriban;^[3][4][5][6] MDA2, MDN and DLR name only the French word, Tiktin only the Italian one.^{[7][8][9][10]} Within Romanian it can also be analysed as from Romanian misteriu + -os.^[1]

The French adjective is formed on mystère (“mystery”), which goes back through Latin mystērium to Ancient Greek μυστήριον (mustḗrion, “secret rite”).^[1][11] The Italian word is formed on misterio, and is recorded from the 14th century.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Costache Negruzzi in 1836.^[10] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848, where MDA2 starts the word, defines it as silent, keeping a secret, or holding a hidden meaning.^[7][13]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word described both things whose nature is hidden or hard to understand and people who keep their secrets.^[13][9] The Romantic poets used it often: DLR quotes Eminescu's “un vis misterios” “a mysterious dream”.^[9] Scriban adds a pejorative shade, of someone who makes a secret of things not worth hiding.^[6] It is also used as an adverb, “mysteriously”, and as a noun, “the mysterious”.^[7][9] An older synonym, misteric, has gone out of use.^[7]

Timeline

• 1836 – first record, in C. Negruzzi.^[10]
• 1848 – in Negulici's vocabulary of new words.^[13][7]
• 1870 – misteriosŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1875 – misteriosu in Antonescu's dictionary, glossed with French mystérieux.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Mysterious: not yet known or hard to understand; tainic, secret: Un zgomot misterios venea din pivniță.^[3][7]
2. Of people and their behaviour: hiding something, surrounded by mystery; enigmatic.^[3][15]
3. (as an adverb) Mysteriously.^[7][9]

Related words

• mister
• French mystérieux
• Italian misterioso

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 103
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 660
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. misterios
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. misterios
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 815
7. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 26
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. misterios
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. misterios
10. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. misteriós
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mystère
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. misterioso
13. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. misterios
14. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 179
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 92