năsut

Forms

năsut m or n (feminine singular năsută, masculine plural năsuți, feminine/neuter plural năsute)^[1]

Etymology

MDA2, DEX and DLR take it as inherited from Latin nāsūtus (“having a long nose; witty”).^[2][3][4][1] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW give the same etymon,^[5][6] and compare Italian nasuto, Logudorese nazudu, Old French nasu and Catalan nassut.^[6][7] The Latin adjective is formed on nāsus (“nose”) with the suffix -ūtus.^[8][1]

Ciorănescu calls it a suspect word and lists it among the derivatives of nas, beside năsos.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Laurian and Massim's dictionary of 1871.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu cite it from Bukovina, from Marian's ornithology, for a person with a big nose and for a sheep with a white muzzle.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word is regional.^[3][2] From “big-nosed” it passed to people who poke their nose into everything, and so to “curious” and “cheeky”: Marian tells of the woodpecker that it was once a nosy woman.^[4][9] Among shepherds it describes the muzzle of sheep: a long muzzle, or a black sheep with a white patch on the muzzle, or a white one with a black patch.^[4][3] MDA2 also records it for a horse with a white blaze, and as a feminine noun for the white pelican.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1871 – in Laurian and Massim's dictionary, the first record.^[2]
• 1883 – “nosy, curious” in Marian's ornithology.^[4][6]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it “big-nosed, insolent”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (regional) big-nosed; năsos.^[3][1]
2. (regional, figurative) Nosy, curious; cheeky, impudent.^[3][9][1]
3. (regional, of sheep) Black with a white patch on the muzzle, or white with a black patch on the muzzle.^[3][4]

Related words

• nas
• nară
• Latin nāsūtus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 110
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 694
4. ^ 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. năsut
5. ^ 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. nas
6. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. năsut
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5843
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 173
10. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. năsut
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 420