nas

Forms

nas n (plural nasuri)^[1] Old plural nasure: „nasure au” “they have noses” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nāsus (“nose”).^{[4][3][5][6][7][1]} It survives as Megleno-Romanian nas and Istro-Romanian nǫs.^[4][8] In Aromanian the nose is nare, and the cognate only names the pointed tip of a sandal.^[6] Its Romance cognates include Italian naso, French nez, Occitan nas, Catalan nas and Spanish naso.^[4][7] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s (“nose”).^[1]

Of its derivatives, năsos “big-nosed” is a Romanian formation;^[7] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW take năsut from Latin nāsūtus (“big-nosed”), but Ciorănescu calls it a doubtful word.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the old plural nasure in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in Psalm 113 on the idols that have noses but cannot smell.^[2][3][9] Tiktin's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 27:30).^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old law punished some crimes by cutting off the nose, and Ureche tells of a man marked on the nose and sent to a monastery.^[9][11] From this comes a tăia nasul cuiva “to put someone in his place”.^[11] By a shift of sense the word also means boldness or cheek: a avea nas “to dare”, a-și lua nasul la purtare “to grow insolent”.^[4][5][12] In Moldavia nasul curcanului “turkey's nose” is the name of the love-lies-bleeding plant.^[10]

Timeline

• early 16th century – the plural nasure in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][3]
• 16th century – nas in the Codicele Voronețean.^[10]
• 1649 – nasul in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1654 – le-au tăiat nasurile și buzele “they cut off their noses and lips” in a text of 1654.^[9]
• 1799 – „Nas avea mare, roșatec ca sfecla” “he had a big nose, red as a beet”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The nose: the prominent part of the face between the forehead and the mouth, used for breathing and smell.^[5][3][1]
2. The snout of some animals.^[3][9]
3. (figurative) Boldness, cheek.^[4][12]

Word family

• năsos
• năsut

Related words

• Latin nāsus

Usage notes

The plural is nasuri; old texts have nasure.^[5][3] Common phrases include pe nas “through the nose” of a voice, sub nasul cuiva “under someone's nose”, a strâmba din nas “to turn up one's nose” and a-și băga nasul “to poke one's nose in”.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 113:14
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 95
4. ^ a b c d e f 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
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 690
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 99
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5842
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 203
9. ^ 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. nas
10. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nas
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 419
12. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 851
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. nasul
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. nas