mult

Forms

mult m or n (feminine singular multă, masculine plural mulți, feminine/neuter plural multe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin multus (“much, many”).^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary takes the Latin word from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tos (“crumbled, crumpled”); de Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic stem and only tentatively a root meaning good or big.^[1][5]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian multu, Megleno-Romanian mult and Istro-Romanian munt.^[2][6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian molto, Old French molt, Catalan molt, Spanish mucho and Portuguese muito.^[2][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Neacșu's letter of 1521, and MDA2's is the Codicele Voronețean of 1563–1583.^[9][3] A homily book of 1643 has mai de multă vreme “in earlier times”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective means “much, many”, and the adverb “much, long, far, often”.^[10][2] Old and regional Romanian also used mult before an adjective as “very”: Papahagi cites old mult păcătos “very sinful” beside Aromanian multu “very”.^[6][10] The neuter plural multe “many things” forms phrases: multe și mărunte “all sorts of things; trifles”.^[10] Ciorănescu also records the adverb in the sense “only, barely”.^[2]

Romanian derived mulțime “crowd, multitude” and înmulți “to multiply” from it.^[2] Ciorănescu takes mulțumi “to thank, satisfy” from mulțime; the usual explanation, from la mulți ani “many happy returns” (Tiktin, the REW, Scriban), seems impossible to him, though he finds the parallel of Greek “for many years” used as “thank you” suggestive.^[2] The French loans multiplu and multiplica belong to the learned layer of the same Latin family.^[2]

Timeline

• 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.^[9]
• 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1643 – mai de multă vreme “in earlier times” in a homily book.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. much, many: in great number or quantity, of many kinds, of great size, intensity or length: multă vreme “a long time”, de multe ori “often”.^[10][1]
2. (as a noun, neuter plural) Many things: multe și mărunte “all sorts of things”.^[10]

Adverb

1. Much, a lot; intensely; long; far; often: A muncit mult. “He worked hard.”, and cu mult “by far”, cel mult “at most”, de mult “long ago”.^[10][1]
2. (old, regional) Before an adjective or adverb: very, extremely.^[10][6]

Word family

• multișor
• mulțime
• înmulți
• înmulțire
• înmulțitor
• mulțămeală
• mulțumi

Related words

• multiplu
• Aromanian multu
• Latin multus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. mult
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 74
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5740
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 711
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 197
8. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 97
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. mult
10. ^ 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. 1, 680