musafir

Forms

musafir m (plural musafiri)^[1] The variant mosafir is southern according to Scriban; the old Moldavian texts also have mosafiriu: „Vino de-ți vezi mosafiriul” “come and see your guest”.^[2][3] The feminine is musafiră, rare: Caragiale writes of musafirele.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مسافر (müsâfir, “guest”), from Arabic مُسافِر (musāfir, “traveller”), a word of the Ottoman layer.^{[6][7][8][1][2]} DEX and Tiktin cite the form in its modern spelling, Turkish misafir.^[4][8]

The word went into the other Balkan languages too: Aromanian musafir, Modern Greek μουσαφίρης (musafíris) and Albanian musafir.^{[6][9][10][11]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1643.^[8] MDA2 and the DLR cite a document of before 1715 in the Arhiva românească: „Aice au venit un arap musafir al împăratului la viziriul” “here an Arab, a guest of the sultan, came to the vizier”.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word is mostly Moldavian: the chronicles speak of the Turkish guests staying in Iași, and the DLRLV lists it among the regional words of the old literary language.^[5][3] In the 19th century it became the common word for a guest at home or at table, in Negruzzi, Alecsandri and Creangă.^[5][8][12]

MDA2 also gives a rare sense, a visitor to a hospital or a prison, and a regional one, a wedding guest.^[7] The proverb casa nemăturată musafiri așteaptă “an unswept house expects guests” is said of something that comes at the wrong moment.^[7]

Timeline

• 1643 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[8]
• before 1715 – musafir in a document of the Arhiva românească.^[7][5]
• before 1794 – musafirlâc “visit”, from Turkish.^[7]
• late 18th century – the Turkish musafirii in Iași, in a Moldavian chronicle.^[5]
• 1885 – Șăineanu lists the word among the Turkish elements of Romanian.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A guest: a person who visits someone or is given hospitality for a while; oaspete, invitat.^[4][7][1]
2. (rare) A visitor to a hospital, a prison and the like.^[7]
3. (regional) A wedding guest, a nuntaș.^[7]

Related words

• musafirlâc
• oaspete
• Aromanian musafir

Usage notes

Casa nemăturată musafiri așteaptă is a proverb used when something comes unexpectedly, at an awkward time.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 843
3. ^ a b Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 194
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 683
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. musafir
6. ^ a b 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. musafir
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 81
8. ^ 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. musafir
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 717
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 153
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 414
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1885), Elemente turcești în limba română, București (offprint from Revista pentru istorie, archeologie și filologie), p. 73