moștenitor

Forms

moștenitor m (plural moștenitori, feminine equivalent moștenitoare)^[1] The old form is moștenitoriu: „Pre Iuda vînzătoriu-l făcu și piiarderii moștenitoriu” “he made Judas a traitor and an heir of perdition” (Coresi).^[2] A regional variant muștenitor appears in a document of 1813: „Iară celelante, împreună cu moșiile de la Hotin, stăpînesc di muștinitorii Neculcii” “and the rest, together with the estates at Hotin, are held by Neculce's heirs”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian moșteni + -tor.^{[3][2][4][5][1]} The verb moșteni “to inherit” comes from moștean “heir; freeholder”,^[4][6] which DEX compares with moșnean and Wiktionary derives, probably, from moș “old man, ancestor”.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1581, in Coresi's homiliary, where Judas is made “an heir of perdition”.^[5][2] MDA2 cites Nicolae Costin's chronicle: „Luasă Traian ficior de suflet și moștenitoriu împărăției pre Andriian” “Trajan had taken Hadrian as adoptive son and heir to the empire”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The main sense is legal: the person who inherits property or a right.^[4][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the plural moștenitori six times, among them the Epistle to the Galatians.^[7] Caragea's law code defines the heir as the person to whom all the rights of the dead pass: „Moștenitoriu iaste obrazul la carele trec toate aceale drepturi ale mortului”.^[2] The word also names the successor to an office or a throne: prinț moștenitor “crown prince”.^[4][5] Used as an adjective it means “inheriting; hereditary”.^[2] In familiar use a moștenitor is a son or child,^[8][4] and in the plural, figuratively, posterity.^[2]

Timeline

• 1581 – moștenitoriu in Coresi's homiliary, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1688 – moștenitori in the Bucharest Bible.^[7]
• 1773 – moștenitor “heir” in a manuscript: „vei rămânea moștenitor avuțiii lui” “you will be left heir to his wealth”.^[5][2]
• 1813 – the regional form muștinitorii in a document.^[2]
• 1886 – in Barcianu's dictionary, with the feminine moștenitoare.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An heir: a person who inherits property or becomes the beneficiary of a right by legal or testamentary succession.^[4][3][1]
2. A successor in an office or a dignity; also as an adjective: prinț moștenitor “crown prince”.^[4][3]
3. (familiar) A son or child, in relation to his parents.^[4][8]
4. (figurative, in the plural) posterity, descendants.^[2]

Word family

• comoștenitor

Related words

• moșteni
• moștenire
• moștean
• moș

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. moștenitor
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 63
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 676
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. moștenitor
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. moșteni
7. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gal 3:29
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 836
9. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 393