naiba

Forms

naiba m (uncountable)^[1] MDA2 gives the genitive-dative naibei, naibii or năibii, a rare plural naibe and the regional variant naima.^[2] The plural occurs in Iacob Negruzzi: „Toate naibele să ieie vremea și vârsta!” “may all the devils take time and age!”.^[3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed, and DEX calls it unknown.^[4][3] Ciorănescu thinks it probably borrowed from Ottoman Turkish نائبه (naibe, “misfortune”), a word of Arabic origin, through Romani naibah (“bad luck”), following Löbel, Șăineanu and Graur;^[1] Wiktionary gives the same chain.^[5][1] Graur argued for the Romani word, and MDA2 and the DLR cite him.^[3][2] Ciorănescu adds that it is more a general curse than a proper name of the devil.^[5]

The older view, in Laurian and Massim, Tiktin and Scriban, takes it as a shortening of curses meaning “may he have no share (of us)”, built on the subjunctive of avea “to have”.^[6][7][8] Ciorănescu rejects it: other names of the devil such as “may the semantron kill him” make no sense when cut short.^[5] He also finds unlikely Lokotsch's link with Arabic لعب (laʿib, “game”), the source of Spanish naipe.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Klein's dictionary of 1801, in the phrase omu náibii glossed with Hungarian “mischievous”.^[9] Tiktin's first date is the Lexicon of Buda of 1825, and MDA2's first record is Alecu Russo, who lists naiba among the evil spirits that frightened people at night.^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was a name of the devil used in curses and exclamations rather than in belief: du-te la naiba! “go to the devil!”, naiba să-l ia “devil take him”, ce naiba? “what the devil?”.^[3][10][11] Pisone in 1865 glosses it with Latin “evil” and translates omulă naibi as “a worthless man”.^[10] Folklorists record it among the names people used to avoid saying the devil's own.^[3]

The genitive gave the intensifier al naibii “terribly, awfully; devilish (person)”, and expressions such as a da de naiba “to get into trouble”, a lăsa la naiba “to give something up” and a nu avea nici pe naiba “to be perfectly well”.^[4][2] The verb năibui “to send to the devil” is formed from it.^[5]

Timeline

• 1801 – omu náibii in Klein's dictionary.^[9]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon of Buda.^[7]
• 1865 – du-te la naiba and omulă naibi in Pisone's dictionary.^[10]
• 1871 – Laurian and Massim's glossary explains it as a shortening of n-aibă.^[6]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “the devil”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial, mostly in curses) The devil: du-te la naiba! “go to hell!”, ce naiba faci? “what the hell are you doing?”.^[4][2]
2. al naibii (de...): awful, terrible; terribly, extremely.^[4][2]
3. a da de naiba or a vedea pe naiba: to get into trouble.^[4]
4. a da naibii or a lăsa la naiba: to give up, to stop caring about.^[4][2]
5. a nu avea nici pe naiba: to be perfectly healthy.^[4][2]

Word family

• năibui

Usage notes

The word is used with the article: DEX 2009 makes it masculine, while the DLR, DEX 1998 and Tiktin treat it as feminine.^{[4][3][12][7]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 92
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. naiba
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 688
5. ^ a b c d e 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. naiba
6. ^ a b Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871), Glossariu care coprinde vorbele d'in limba romana straine prin originea sau form'a loru, cumu si celle de origine indouiosa, Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. naiba
7. ^ 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. naiba
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 849
9. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 403
10. ^ a b c Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 236
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 400
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 667